> is it not a vain, mistaken, and indeed almost culpable, form of effort, to try and establish a definitive or 'correct' version of any traditional artefact...?


You're such a romantic, Mike.

Burns did it a number of times.

So have lesser talents, The Kingston Trio, e.g.

Millions love the results, so those adjectives seem not to apply.

If "oral tradition" and "folk recomposition" were still in vigorous operation, "definitive" versions would of course be inconceivable - except for those (like readers of Burns and emulators of "folk" groups) who accept them as such.