" 17 Feb 19 - 08:06 AM Not my problem if you didn't like the answers."
That was a rough description Dave - no a definition
As far as I am concerned the definition of a folk song lies in the two inseperable terms Folk and Traditional
"Tradition" is the largely oral process that first led to the making, remaking and changing of the songs whose origins are virtually untraceable and unattributable
"Folk" was a term applied to the people who almost certainly made and used the songs down the ages to express aspects of their lives and experiences   

The structure of folk songs reflect their characteristics and their probable origins unlike most pop songs, the personnel tend have names, identities, occupations and description
They are farm-workers, soldiers, sailors, weavers..... labourers...real people with real lives and real problems - they are two-dimensional rather than the flat, lifeless stereotypes created by the music industry - or the broadside presses, for that matter
The songs indicate a working knowledge of the backgrounds of the characters, tools, trade terms, customs lore, and their experiences are universal rather the introspective, which is why they survived as long as they have and, in my opinion, are still relevant - they express experiences that we can all relate to, to some degree
They often contain information that would otherwise have been lost or forgotten, which is what makes researching them so enjoyable and fulfilling
Nowhere can you find the depth of information on the experiences of 'ordinary' people that you can in the folk songs - it was hardly considered important enough to record
That's my take on what folk songs are and why they are important - now tell me how yours measures up
As I have said - folk song is defined clearly in the two words "folk" and "tradition"
If it didn't belong to the folk and hasn't passed through a traditional process it ain't a folk songs
This doesn't mean we can't still go on making songs and enjoying singing them at folk clubs - must sing you 'Hippies and the Beatniks' (Miles Wooton?) or Doneill Kennedy's 'O'Reilly and the Big McNeill' sometime - or any other of the near 100 I can still remember
As long as they fit into a folk song evening they are an essential additive - but that's what they are - additions

Hoot - I call what I believe to be folk songs "folk" - that doesn't include MacColl's (of which I still sing about a couple of dozen) or Cyril Tawney's or Enoch Kent's... or all the others who composed using folk styles
"Folk song" is a genre far too well researched and documented not to be understandable
As far as I'm concerned, those who don't know what it is don't want to know what it is - "the answer lies out there" as they used to say in 'The X Files'
JIm