"people complaining that songs are marked or considered "irish" and they are NOT. "

Actually... it strikes me that Guest, 26-Jun-02 - 02:45 PM above, is slicing and dicing Declan's metaphores. I *believe* that the gist of Declan's original post (that songs like "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" and "Dirty Old Town" are considered "Irish" by many people) is not something to blame the Irish themselves for. The fact that The Pogues did a cover of Dirty Old Town does not make it Irish. Right? Blaming "the Irish" because of other people's assumptions (mainly Americans it seems) is silly.

It seems that Declan's main thrust is that there are folks too lazy to verify sources before posting in DT (and elsewhere) or so unscrupulous to publish a book of "Irish" songs that aren't.

The stuff I write is "American" although it may be written in a style similar to Irish folk or Scottish folk. If my cousin in Dublin sings it, or a friend in Ayreshire sings it, it is still American, not Irish or Scottish, but some folks may never figure that out.

Now let us quit violently agreeing... ;-)

Pete