Marje:

I think the "high feeling/low sentimentality" is a big part of why I prefer Carthy's version of "His Name is Andrew." Martin Carthy seems to play everything very straight and let the song do what it needs to do.

I tend to respond less to something if it seems overplayed, sentimental, or manipulative. The Phil Ochs song I posted earlier is moving because it's basically a description of his loss of purpose in the wake of the 1968 DNC. There's a guy I know, too, who has written some incredibly affecting songs, and it's because they're straight with you. They're matter-of-fact, without any attempt at dramatizing anything. One of his, about losing each of his parents, is one of the best songs I've heard anywhere, and it's because he...well, he does what Martin Carthy does--he lets the song do what it needs to do without getting in the way or trying to force an audience reaction. Townes Van Zandt could do it, too, although the people who have covered him haven't always been as successful.

Maybe what I mean is that a moving song should be cathartic in some way, while a song that crassly manipulates you (if successful) is more like an emotional rape.