So what exactly is a protest song? I can't explain why exactly, but I'm seriously turned off by polemical, bitter-edged songs that try to hit me between the eyes with a message. Some of my very favourite Irish and Scottish singers are guilty of that. I already agree with them and don't need to be beaten round the head with their urgent notions. This Land Is Your Land is as protest-song as a a protest song can be to me, but there's a stepping back, a sweetness about it that draws me in and makes me listen rather than it sticking up a barrier in front of me which has a sign on it that says I'm going to teach you something, are you listening? Story songs like Pretty Boy Floyd are as protest-song as can be, but the story comes with a message I can take or leave without having been punched in the guts about it first. When I hear a song I want a bit of poetry. Good poetry has a way of cutting through your defences that a finger-wagging polemic can never have. Thanks for listening!