Is Malbrouk/For he's a jolly good fellow/The bear went over the mountain the only cross fertilization of songs across the Channel/North Sea? I find it quite hard to believe that there are not other songs out there. Here in East Kent the Channel is only 22 miles wide. I doubt that singing could be heard from one side to the other! I suspect, however, there must have been contact between the two communities even if there were wars between the countries. When you consider how songs spread across these Western Isles and onto America it seems as though there really was some cultural barrier in popular music between the continent and the islands. Has anyone else any more thoughts?
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