Thanks for all your thoughts and contributions. To answer a couple of points that have been raised.

Mental health songs. I mentioned 'mental health' rather than 'mental illness' in relation to Spencer the Rover and other songs, as the very idea of where health ends and illness begins is fraught in medical, historical and personal terms, and can be subjective, so 'health' is a broader, catch-all idea. If Spencer leaves home looking for work, the song doesn't mention it. It just says 'reduced', which is open to all kinds of financial or mental health interpretations. But I can't think that someone who leaves home for some unexplained reason (as many people with mental health difficulties do, by the way), sleeps in the woods and laments because he misses his children can be a very happy man. Anyway, there'll be more in the article, when I've finished it, it will cover much more than this one song, and probably best argue with me, if you want to, and I'd be happy for you to, when it's complete.

GUEST,ripov - yes, I agree that it's a shame to completely compartmentalise music. Though I'd be hard-pressed to find links between hip-hop and medieval music, there are certainly links in style and actual content between early music and traditional music - sometimes it's a different word for the same thing. That's why the blog specifies medieval, renaissance and traditional, and you'll find big overlaps between them in some of the articles, including one on Coventry Carol I'll be putting up soon, probably today, which will take in the renaissance song, medieval mystery plays, Henry VIII and John Renbourn. And there's an article about those musical overlaps brewing, too.