Gene, that's an interesting idea. Do you know of any examples, especially of a performer claiming immortality from passing on the music? The one thing I wonder, though: if the song is not the performer's, but rather belongs to the tradition (or whatever), how does the performer guarantee HIS immortality as opposed to, say, the person who sang it in the generation before or after him? Also, some of the things we hear Leadbelly say on his last sessions seem to suggest some sort of bid for ownership. After "Go Down, Old Hannah" (I think) he's told "yeah, I've heard that song before." He replies, "Not like THAT you haven't." (Forgive the paraphrase.) A very interesting question: does anyone know of a performer claiming the invention or some other sort of ownership ("no one sings it as well as I do") of a song which we (and their audience?) knew was not written by them?