In respect of song sources, do you believe that there is a chicken and egg situation with the Broadside ballad industry, and the song tradition, or do you subscribe to the belief that most traditional songs from the 19th century can be traced back to street literature, and the pleasure gardens, and did not previously exist in the working class repertoire. I realise that this is a monumentally large generalisation, but since we ware trying to keep things simple and on an even keel, I would be interested in an answer. My second point in respect of sources is of course the tunes. So many of our Folk song tunes seem to be from the 'Derry Down' 'Miller of Dee' 'Gregory Walker' 'Gee ho dobbin' 'Jack Pudding' and of course ' Villikins' tune families. This in no way lessens the quality of the songs, quite the opposite. With this in mind there is a view that there is a keenly defined traditional style of singing, which is arguably better preserved in Ireland. So back to chicken and egg. Which came first? The style or the tune? I don't expect anybody to wave a magic wand over these questions, but they have long interested me, and may be your good selves. I totally subscribe to Jim's parameters of behaviour as described above!
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