PFR - I would love to hear Portishead sing folk. Although I have a sneaking suspicion they'd screw it up by adding extra portentousness.

On Hal Wilner's Rogues' Gallery shanty collection there's a version of A Drop of Nelson's Blood by Jarvis Cocker. He rocks it up - which is fine - but also puts it in a minor key & makes it sound dark and edgy, as if drinking rum is the nastiest, most transgressive thing you could imagine. Which I think is just a bit silly and juvenile - we're all grownups, we know what we're talking about (getting drunk), and what we're talking about is fun; why not be happy about it? It's linked to the passive tension/release thing I wrote about here.