I try not to sneer, but have been guilty of rolling my eyes at some choices, for the reason often given above: overexposure. Then you top overexposure with folks who make a mess of it, and I'm likely to cringe, and or/leave the room.

Then you get situations where a particular song is someone's party piece & you KNOW they're going to do it, no matter what else goes on, and worse when it's a particularly long one. I love hearing how the folks couldn't remember the words to one they'd been snarky about - the too-oft-repeated effect CAN wear off after a goodly number of years.

I remember in a previous thread about this when I got taken to task when I named "Danny Boy" as one of those "I don't want to hear it again" songs. My associations are drunks singing it badly, hers, deeply precious memories. How one perceives the songs depends so much on what history it has in your circles of folks who sing. I was surprised to hear that "Kilkelly" is one of those sneered at songs in many places - it's not so well known where I live & sing, and it has a deep personal resonance for me (letters to/from Ireland).

Trying to explain to band members while we're building up a repertoire why I do NOT want to do some of the traditional Irish bar band singalong things, comes down to a combination of TOO much familiarity and knowledge that there are LOTS of OTHER songs out there to sing. So if we're singing a folk standard (Leaving of Liverpool & Jamaica Farewell both in our repertoire) it has to be one that has a particular resonance for one of us. We've fought over Fields of Athenry - I heard it 6 times in one weekend at an Irish fest, band members had hardly heard it at all & thought it was a fine song to sing.

I think the same old song every time from the same old parties is laziness - wanting to sing without an interest in something new, something varied, something folk processed. Or possibly too strong an imprint of ONE version of a song. I have ADORED hearing half dozen different versions of a ballad, and been stopped cold in my tracks by someone saying "that's NOT the way Joan Baez sings it!" When it's an old song from a young person, I say give then all the encouragement you can muster, as they'e taking an active interest.

Joanne In Cleveland
ps. Was forced to sing "Danny Boy' as a "reward" for winning 2nd in a singing contest that was CALLED the Danny Boy contest at an Irish fest this summer. All I could think about -as I read the words - Was Robbie O'Connell singing "You can't be Irish, You can't be Irish, you don't Sing Danny Boy..."