I guess I'll have to stick my neck out, too. Did you all read the column Ian Robb wrote in SING OUT! about RUS? One major point he made: if you love a song enough to sing it, you ought to love it enough to learn it.

Caroline and I were leading a "group singing" session at Augusta a few years ago. All was going well until someone asked for "Careless Love." Well, I've been singing "Careless Love" for over fifty years, so I said "Sure," and started singing it. Out popped a dozen RUS books; noses were instantly buried in the pages; all eye contact was lost. Worst case scenario: I started into what was probably a third verse and "No!" they screamed. "That's not next!" It seems we had to sing only those verses that appeared in THE BOOK, and in the precise order in which they were printed.

As to the headnotes, I've found a number of examples of misinformation. Not real serious stuff, but misinformation, nevertheless. Also, I often find myself disagreeing with the suggested chords. Perhaps the authors and I have different melodies in our heads, but...

So... I tend to agree with Barry, and I enjoyed his parody of "Jack in the Green," but I wonder about crediting the original to "traditional." We learned the song from the Trailer recording Maypoles and Mistletoe, where it is credited to Graebe (John?). I'm confident that it's a relatively new song, and a splendid one, written by someone who has done a fair amount of folklore homework. Would that there were more of 'em making new songs for us, rather than all of the omphaloscopists musically contemplating their own navels.

Sandy (resident folk fogey)