Sorry Howard - this in no way addressed the 90-odd% claim and its implications
None of what you say is relevant to the fact that, to accept those percentages is to undermine the role of 'people' as composers
Songs of social commentary are more likely to have originated on the broadside presses
Songs dealing with the everyday effects of what was happening in the wider world - wars, land enclosures, the changes in the countryside due to industrialisation, the necessity of using marriageable children as steps up the social ladder.... most of the events covered in our folk songs, are far more likely to have originated with the people who faced the problems
The love songs are universal - they effect us all
Jim Carroll