Betsy ... have you heard any of the other programmes in this series? The impact of the songs/music, what they mean to people, how important they have been at crucial points in people's lives is the main point of the programmes. There have been some moving commentaries in some programmes. I suppose the programme makers start with the song/music and then go in search of people to whom the song/music has been significant. Sometimes that works.

I'd perhaps have to listen to the programme again in case I missed it, but it didn't strike me that anyone made the point that only a small number of versions of the song actually mention Scarborough.... and they could have talked to members of the Mark Anderson family (from whom MacColl apparently got the version in Singing Island which Martin Carthy learned and Paul Simon copied...). The programme makers did know about all this - I sent them the issue of English Dance & Song magazine with Mike Bettison's article about it all ...

Derek