Maybe they don't (though there's seems to be a rock band in every garage, with folks writing and performing their own songs according to established idioms).

But saying that people have to sing it and pass it on in person to make it a "folksong" could be just another arbitrary standard of the past.

Frankly, I'm for it, but we're already at a place where music is mostly a passive "activity," made for us by the pros and semi-pros. I used to have a quite a repertoire, but my grandchildren just yelled "Don't sing! Don't sing!" Then they turned their media music on loud. So I quit. Now I hardly remember any 1954-type "folksongs" all the way through.

No big loss because I learned most of them right out of books and off records. So if you want to hear me sing "Brennan on the Moor," just download the Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem. It won't be me singing, but the song will be the same.

Better, in fact, because they had more talent.

*Real* traditional music (never mind "folk" or "not folk") works when there's human interaction, when you can say (even if just to yourself) I learned this from mom, dad, that crazy guy, whoever. Those associations are part of what traditional singers treasure.

But now they're more likely to download. It remains to be seen whether today's kids learn and sing the "new folksongs", or just say, "Grandma used to sing something called 'Leader of the Pack.' Here it is! The Shangri-Las! Let's download and listen!"