I think that if you know who wrote the song and it has remained in tact and unchanged through the years, it is not a folk song. It hasn't undergone the process.

I think that this thread will keep coming up for the following reasons: 1. People will always want to know what the difference is between any old song and a folk song. 2. There is a reason why these songs persist in the way that they do. Change and adaptability. 3. People are confused when they hear popular music being written today and called "folk". They deserve a better explanation as to why it's not. 4. Traditional folk singers have their own audience and appreciators and they often don't overlap with the general audience for art songs, pop songs, show songs or pseudo-folk type songs. 5. There is something in the dynamic of this music that you can feel and it just plain feels different than other forms of music.

Frank Hamilton