Caroline and I have never done an entire evening of multiple versions of a single song, but we have often shown three versions of a song in a set. We're careful, though, to make them three very different versions. For instance, we'll do a brief "I Know Where I'm Going," follow it with a quick three verses of the Scottish "Licht Bob's Lassie," then do Linscott's New England song "Katy Cruel." Sometimes we run a similar set of three Riddle Songs -- Appalachian, New England and English. We used to do it with three versions of "The Keys of Canterbury" ("Paper of Pins"), too. And these have not been done only in school programs where we are deliberately demonstrating the effect of oral transmission on traditional songs and ballads; we might well do one of these sets in a general program.

Gawd! I don't know if anyone has ever asked to have their ticket price returned. I sure hope not! The comments we've heard from people after the programs indicated that they found the demonstration interesting, and enjoyed it. Maybe we've been too naive all these years?

Sandy