Is folk a dirty four-letter word?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Dec 21 - 03:46 PM

Of course you are absolutely right, Dick. It was the irony of it that made me laugh. Same irony that has most of Eurovision songs in English yet the UK nearly always come last. It doesn't take much to amuse me as we head back into the dark ages.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 21 Dec 21 - 06:33 PM

Here are some snippets of correspondence with a concerned friend - no name no pack drill.

Me
So now to the latest rubbish to arrive from the front!
 
The so called questionnaire / survey must have been put together by an eight year old with learning difficulties!!
What a mess.
 
I note "they" are taking this forward on the strength of initial responses from 65 (SIXTY FIVE) persons - that's almost one in a million of the UK population. Impressive what?
 
What does the current treasurer think of the idea of throwing money away?
 
Before any decisions are made on this issue it would be far more important to look at the current staff appointments, their salaries and most importantly their responsibilities. I have a feeling there is a lot of dead wood - including those at the top.
 
WE ARE NOT A SECRET SOCIETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
As I say above a cull is needed.


Part of reply
I've had the questionnaire, but not yet opened up .... I've seen enough Facebook messages, including from a professional statistician, rubbishing the structure to convince me that I need to be calm before I open it.

Me
Another point I made was that at the time I joined the Society they/we were pushing to attain a membership of 10,000.
The staff structure at the time including field staff was less than the current numbers.
They also did not have the benefit of computers etc to aid the running of the Society.

Membership now stands at less than 2000 (there's progress) and yet seems to cost in real terms a hell of a lot more to administer.

Lot's to think about when the body which purports to represent our interests in a culture we all supposedly treasure is in the hands of these people.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Dec 21 - 08:04 PM

The trouble with folk music arises when certain "folk" seize the opportunity to make a career out of it. There's a bit of a phenomenon in English folk which I could refer to as pedestalisation (get a load of THAT one, Merriam-bloody-Webster!). I couldn't possibly name names of dynasties lest I be (literally) assassinated (it's happened before...), but there are several that come to mind...Naturally, incredibly talented musicians will rise to the top in a natural way and become famous inside our bubble, but that ain't good enough for some. The genre in which I was mainly steeped is Irish traditional instrumental music. I've consorted with many of the great and the good therein and found all of them to be humble and grateful for the kudos they've received...and they'll sit in your session with you and exude not even a hint of an air of superiority or a need to distance. You're not good because you think you're good. You're good because you ARE good and because you want to be integrated with the rest of us, even the not so good. Surely that's what sets (or what should set) real folk music apart from the ultra-commercial music world... But what do I know!

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Dec 21 - 07:59 AM

I think that happens elsewhere too, Steve. The USA abounds with them. Isla St Clair and Eddi Reader in Scotland. Enya is a prime example of it Ireland and I am sure there are more. I am also sure that a lot of those who have 'made it' in England are happy to be integrated with the rest of us. I have experience of quite a few 'famous names' roughing it with us plebs :-) Maddy Prior, Martin Carthy and Kate Rusby to name but 3! And did Ewan MacColl exude an air of superiority or feel a need to distance?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Dec 21 - 07:29 AM

one of the differences between ireland and england is that CCE recives much more funding

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: PHJim
Date: 25 Dec 21 - 01:30 PM

FOLK - a 4 letter word that starts with "F", ends with "K" and if you use it, your songs won't get played on the radio.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 25 Dec 21 - 10:53 PM

Curious rhythm to some UK posts...

One, TWO, Three, ONE, Two.

Malcolm post 12/21/21

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

. Have ya noticed THAT,
Many Bits end their sentence with an up-turned questioning query?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Albachiel
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 09:26 AM

Paul Robson is supposed to have said when asked "what makes a folk song".
He replied "Folk"

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 10:10 AM

That would be Paul Robeson?!

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 12:59 PM

Leadbelly said he had never heard a horse sing when asked a similar question.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 03:28 PM

no, not lead belly,louis armstrong.
rubbish. anyway, of courses. horses sing.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 04:44 PM

Neigh, lad.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 05:38 PM

Knew I could rely on you Dick!

Horses can certainly hum!!

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 01:40 AM

Its odd really, Jim used to rage against his experiences of when he last visited English folk clubs and (horror of horrors!) - there were people there singing Beatle and Buddy Holly songs.

Those songs are sixty (nearly 70!) years old now and they're part of the mental geography of most people living in these islands.

Who gets to choose what are folk songs? The folk of course. You can have as many societies and committees as you like, for the preservation of the arcane and the obscure. But they're all onto a bit of a loser.

'We've lost more than we'll ever know...' sing Show of Hands. Maybe! But we've gained a fair bit, and we should celebrate that.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 03:00 AM

the fact that certain songs are 70 years old is not really relevant it is not the age of a song that makes it a folk song.
the whole point of oral tradtion quote
a
community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.
buddy holly AND BEATLES songs are written down and always sung without alteration to the lyrics, therfore they do not fit under the 1954 definition, the only occasion they do, are when they are ADAPTED AND ALTERED by football crowds.
the folk do not choose anything they are fed banal pop by the media

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 03:51 AM

well (with all respect) - there you have your recipe for disaster and how you've whittled down membership of your gang.

English literature went through a similar crisis at the end of the 19th/start of the 20th century. Poets were writing 'in the the tradition'. They called themselves neo -Georgians, pre Raphaelites etc - it all came down to the same thing -namely eschewing the voice of the 'folk'.

Luckily we got a break and TS Eliot and others kicked us into the language of the 20th century..

Folk music is located with the 'folk' - just as the sky is located above us. Nothing the Pope or some committee of experts decree will change that.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 04:42 AM

You've lost me a bit here Al. Are you saying singing Folk Song in the traditional style has emptied Folk Clubs? Not my experience.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 04:42 AM

You've lost me a bit here Al. Are you saying singing Folk Song in the traditional style has emptied Folk Clubs? Not my experience.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 04:57 AM

not my experience either.
one thing that has emptied clubs, are singers that are unpractised, and who talk through other singers performances, and who are not prepared to listen to practised performers, they prefer their singers clubs where sometimes the standard is incompetentand they appear to find companionship with other bad performers. This is regardless of whether the songs are folk pop or anything else.
the one thing that people are not prepared to pay for is bad performance regardless of material.
personally, i have no problem with people reading their lyrics if they have practised them, and they then perform the material well

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 05:07 AM

No I don' t think I'm saying that. Everybody has the right to sing 'in the traditional style' -if they want. I think think its hard to work out what the tradition is for most of us. The late Ian Campbell once told me his Dad's main influence as a singer was Al Jolson.

I suppose what I'm saying is that time moves on. When I first went to folk clubs in the 1960's. Fifty years ago was pre first world war. Now 50 years ago is the 1960's - well no that's 60 years ago....makes you think!

I don't think I sing Beatles/Buddy Holly songs songs in the same way they were sung originally. No more than Joan Baez sang Black is the Colour like Hamish Imlach did, or as Christy Moore does. Three totally different different interpretations of the same song.

If anything has emptied folk clubs - I think maybe its the opinion that one has sole possesssion on the way the truth and the light - that could be the problem.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 05:45 AM

The years of my editing songs for our local dance teacher to use with children taught me, to my delight, that a good deal of "pop music" is far from banal. You don't have to like it or regard it as in any way linked to folk music (though you could be wrong there...), but to diss it, whilst at the same time implicitly putting folk on a pedestal apart, doesn't, er, help the cause...

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 09:29 AM

in reply to big al , it has been some of the low standard of singers nights in folk clubs, that has emptied folk clubs. al , you are missing the point , you do not change lyrics of pop songs when you sing them, neither does anybody else that i have heard, that is an essential difference between pop songs and folk songs.
yes, i do think most folk songs are better that is why i sing them because i like them, because i put them on a pedestal.
jazz singers like jazz songs for the same reason, because they like the bloody song.
steve, you like irish trad, that is why you used to play it, whereas you did not play yellow submarine at sessions did you

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 10:48 AM

I think the use of the word tradition, may be causing a confusion. Within the context of Folk song, the tradition in it's entirety, has boundaries and styles. There are of course other musical traditions, but to apply them to different mediums including Folk Song/Music, when they are alien to the medium is a mistake IMHO.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 12:52 PM

"it has been some of the low standard of singers nights in folk clubs, that has emptied folk clubs".
Spot on, The Sandperson.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 01:41 PM

I think a lot of pop has its roots in folk but maybe that is just me. I like, for instance, Jethro Tull and find them quite folky at times. More up to date, I am not that keen on Mumford and Sons but can see the folk influence. A lot of the tunes are lifted directly from the tradition (Belfast Child by Simple Minds to name but one) As kids we regularly changed the lyrics of pop songs (Is there anything that you want? Fish and Chips! Is there anything I can do? Pass the salt!) Is that folk music? What about the traditions of other countries? Is it OK to have Country Music or Bhangra at folk clubs? As I keep saying, I don't have any definitive answers as I find the lines too blurred. All I can rely on is what sounds, to me, like folk music. As such I would never be one to try and define it!

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 01:55 PM

Sandman: ...you do not change lyrics of pop songs when you sing them, neither does anybody else that i have heard, that is an essential difference between pop songs and folk songs.

Oy. If you can't tell Jamaican Monty Alexander from Jamaican Byron Lee, it's because you've never taken the time to listen to them. One is a jazz pianist. No sing.

I own over twelve hundred (1200) covers of Yellow Bird on vinyl. 37 countries. It's been done in Dutch, French, Mandarin and over half are instrumentals the academics are none-the-less likely to list as 'English' cutural appropriations of the Kreyole 'original.'

How in thee holy heckens does one play guitar, piano or vibes in English?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 02:01 PM

Just going on from the changed lyric thing, a folk club I was heavily involved with had a lot of Manchester City fans who loved it when "Nancy Whisky" led into a "Blue Moon" section. As far as I know it was a 'tradition' in that club only. In addition, a good friend who we see regularly substitutes "Living Doll" in the song of the same name with "Blow up Doll" followed by hissing noises. Yes, childish I know but still gets a laugh and, again, as far as I know it has been done for so long it could well be a tradition in itself! :-) (tongue in cheek but poses the question about turning a pop song into a local tradition. Maybe!)

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Allan Conn
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 03:06 PM

People do change lyrics of pop songs all the time. From a basically rewriting of the words for example Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Wanting You" which is "Every Breath You Take" - to less comprehensive changes for example Sinatra's take on "Mrs Robinson". More personally I do a Scots language take on "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" which involved a fair bit of word changing too. I also do Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" with the last verse altered. I don't think it is that uncommon. Another example is Kirsty McCall's version of "New England" which is slightly different and has an extra verse.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 03:25 PM

Thanks Alan. Do the changed lyrics become part of the folk process if they become regularly accepted by your (presumably folk) audience?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 04:21 PM

"A folk song is what’s wrong and how to fix it."

There you go. A mighty definition from Woody!

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 04:59 PM

what a load of bullshit.
the penguin book of english folksongs contains folk songs not yesterday or yellow submarine or buddy holly.
if people want to sing buddy holly songs in an acoustic manner why not be honest and call it an acoustic music club, if you want to sing jazz call it a jazz club, if you want to sing bluebeat call it a bluebeat club.
if you want to sing unaccompanied only, call it an unaccompanied singing club, if its an instrumental session call it that.
if people do not know what to expect they will not turn up
if Martin Carthy is advertised you do not expect   Johnny Rotten, or Garth Brooks

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 05:02 PM

I think Jim Carroll was right, when folk clubs had good resident singers and people sang folk songs in folk clubs, audience turned up in droves on singers nights, and on guest nights partly because the standard was high and partly because the knew approximately what they were getting.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 05:24 PM

You're being a bit elitist about something that isn't elite, Dick...

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 05:36 PM

I went to a concert to see Fishermans Friends and saw them
I went to a concert to see Joe Brown and saw him
I went to a folk club and heard both sea shanties and acoustic 50s covers

I enjoyed them all in different ways and none of them judged me for liking the others. That's probably both the beauty of folk and why some think it's a four letter word. Its inclusivety.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:04 PM

That's it, Dave.

By the way, I've played and sung Yellow Submarine many times on my acoustic harmonica with my son on his acoustic geetar. Gawd knows whether we'd changed the words, but our five-year-old loved it. I seem to recall once morphing into it in our pub session very many moons ago. You can be po-faced about music or you can have fun. I could get po-faced about a Freddie And The Dreamers minor hit, otherwise I say it's all good...

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:12 PM

these conversations have become something of a tradition.

I think maybe we just don't understand each other's point of view. I can't see much profit in attacking the point of view of someone who is sincere and happily productive from the perspective he seems to enjoy. Particularly as we get older and there is still so much we want to do before the park closes.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:12 PM

Folk or folk clubs?
In folk it's the words that are dirty.
In clubs it's the loo.
Dictionary definitions don't need to make rent.
Clubs on the other hand do.

Consumers everywhere have choices. Folk is one choice but relevance isn't mandatory. One need not dislike a folk artist or venue to prefer the jazz or classical alternatives. On the other hand, the ladies may hate your eyebrows with a burning passion. If someone tells you they've got it all figured out, fuggedaboudit.

'Folk clubs' are mostly a British Isles thing. Commercial venue owners everywhere are typically more flexible about their A&R. The old Village Vanguard in New York booked a novelty; folk and jazz act on one playbill.

Not knowing what to expect was part of the entertainment... aka fun.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:15 PM

Besides that if we start putting some bugger in charge of quality control - most of us would never get a play.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Allan Conn
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:42 PM

David I wasn't suggesting by changing the words of a pop song it becomes a folk song. So wasn't going there really. Was just pointing out that the statement "people don't change the words of pop songs" doesn't really hold up. Sometimes some people do.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Allan Conn
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 06:54 PM

I kind of agree with Dave too re the genres. I like a wide variety of music from most types of popular/rock music to jazz to classical to ambient to folk etc. I don't really get the division thing. Though we don't restrict our club anyway. We are called Kelso Folk & Live Music club and welcome all genres as long as it is live. Though the paid artists we bring tend to be pretty exclusively from the folk world. But in normal times we have 50 singers nights per year and performers can do what they want. Some of it is folk but plenty is not.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 07:18 PM

No one changes pop song lyrics!

So who's Alice?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: reggie miles
Date: 29 Dec 21 - 10:45 PM

In the 1960s, some of the artists that have been sighted as having a role in the beginnings of what we generally recognize as the Blues genre were being introduced to audiences of the day. The advertising for these artists and their music wanted to reference the fact that these players were using acoustic guitars, not the newly popular electric guitars gaining attention in the contemporary music scene. I think that's why the phrase Folk Blues was used to describe their music. Many of the songs they played and sang very likely had roots in the oral traditions that were a part of the culture in the early 1900s, when they first began to explore their musical paths. Which was the way most music found its way to folks before the popularity of recorded forms.

I have no oral tradition of influence, as they did. But I always liked the phrase Folk Blues and thought it was a good description of their unique approach to sharing their music. Many of those artists had a primitive feel to their playing and singing style. Some even accompanied their songs with primitively self-built instruments, that today are considered Folk instruments. It was that primitive (anyone can do this) aspect of their approach to sharing their music that first attracted me to explore more of what they singing and playing.

I am not going to attempt to offer any definitive answer as to what Folk music is or isn't. In this fast paced world we now reside in, genres defining some aspect of musical styles are being invented and adapted so quickly, that I have no earthly idea about what the majority of them even refer to. I am shocked that some players are allowed to expand the definitions of their musical styles with strange new terms and that those genre names have become universally accepted almost overnight. Meanwhile, older genre terms, like Blues, or Folk struggle to even find a place among the flood of newly invented genres. I may be the only person even using the now defunct phrase Folk Blues to describe my own efforts.

I recently released a few songs to streaming outlets in the digital multiverse. As I was filling out the needed information regarding my songs, the drop down menu asked me to describe my music from among the many choices they offered and yet, they offered no means to add my own description. I felt cheated out of the opportunity to do as so many other artists have been granted permission to do with their music, invent my own terms to describe what I've been sharing.

I think that given the many and varied aspects of Folk music represented in just this thread alone, we should not be afraid of doing as other contemporary artists have done. We should have fun with our descriptions and invent new terms to define what is obviously an ever changing body of musical expression. Because, though we may yearn to put music in a box and restrict its characteristics with genre terms, describing instrumentation, singing and playing styles, cultural origins, oral traditions... all of those efforts are vain and utter folly. Music is, by nature, ever changing. It morphs with each new soul that travels the path to its discovery and expression. Music cannot be contained by any feeble means we possess. Like life itself, it breaks through any artificial boundaries we might build. It only ever longs to be free.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: PHJim
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 12:39 AM

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Malcolm Storey - PM
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 12:59 PM

Leadbelly said he had never heard a horse sing when asked a similar question.

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Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman - PM
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 03:28 PM

no, not lead belly,louis armstrong.
rubbish. anyway, of courses. horses sing.

******************************************************************
I have seen this attributed to Big Bill Broonzy:
"All songs is folk songs. I ain't never heard no horse sing 'em," in a Sing Out! magazine from the sixties.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 02:54 AM

steve shaw,
when i go to trad music sessions, like all the other people there we play trad instrumental music, there are so many good tunes to play that nobody wants to plays yellow submarine, it is not about being elitist its about knowing what we have gone to play.
people can play yellow submarine plenty of other places ,they can play tiptoe through the tulips in plenty of places.
if you want to play that stuff in a listening club environment go and start your own acoustic music club.
people who have not practised have driven more people out of folk clubs in my opinion than anything else, no one minds beginners who show improvement, it is this idea that it is acceptable to continue to insult audiences by not bothering to have practised material, and that audiences are happy to listen to anything in a folk club.
if you want to play buddy holly, fine go and start an acoustic music club or a rock and roll club.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 03:24 AM

Thanks again, Allan and apologies for misspelling your name earlier. Yes, I realise that you were not suggesting that changed lyrics became folk. I was asking the question to point out once again the blurred lines. Our club was pretty much like yours although we had more paid guests.

Good point made by Reggie too. Music and genres change. I would add that they also interweave. If we try to define something rigidly there will always be exceptions and we end up with too many sub-genres. I, for one, enjoy diversity. Because I have welcomed change I have been accused of ruining folk music. Well, if I have, I apologise. But I have gained, and given I think, a great deal of pleasure through it :-)

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 03:57 AM

How do musical genres interweave?

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 04:01 AM

When I sing at a Maritime song festival, i expect other perfomers to be singing Maritime songs not Rave On.
I have not accused you of anything, I have heard you sing and i would give you a floor spotif i was running a club
I dont think you ruin music when you perform, i have heard better and also a lot worse

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 04:52 AM

Fusion Nick - Think of Jazz Blues, Folk Blues, Folk Rock, East/West. The possibilities are endless! Maybe confusing rather than fusing :-D

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 04:55 AM

The ruining folk music comment was in relation to allowing music that some considered to be non-folk to be played at our folk club.

Subject: RE: Is folk a dirty four-letter word?
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Dec 21 - 04:57 AM

musical genres inter weave?,
the only example i can think of is jazz, which as i understand is defined by improvisation. so jazz and classical music only interweave if there is improvisation specified in the classical composition.
it could be argued that some folk instrumental music becomes jazz when spontaneous variations are played[ i do not mean northumbrian pipe notated variations which are not spontaneous but written out]
one, might possibly hear miss mcleods reel at RoNnie Scotts Jazz club if it was improvised upon. because someone sings Rave On in a folk club, it does not become Jazz UNLESS IT INVOLVES SPONTANEOUS IMPRVISATION,neither does it suddenly become folk, it is Generally classified as a fifties hit written by buddy holly... rock and roll
       "Rave On", also written "Rave On!", is a song written by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty in 1958. It was first recorded by West for Atlantic Records, which released his version in February 1958 (as Atlantic 45-1174).[1] Buddy Holly recorded the song later the same year, and his version became a hit, one of six of his recordings that charted in 1958. Holly is instantly recognizable as the artist: the record begins with a drawn-out "Well…" as stylized by Holly's distinctive hiccup ("A-weh-uh-heh-uh-ell…"). quote wiki
feck all to do with folk music