This is pretty off-topic, but just a clarification.... Joe Offer wrote, One caveat - the date of a song in the Ballad Index is the earliest date found in the sources indexed by the Ballad Index - it is not the date of composition.

Actually, we do use the earliest date that I can verify -- it's just that the earliest date I can verify has a tendency to be the books we index. :-) But if I find earlier sheet music, I'll cite that date, or if I find an unequivocal reference, I'll cite that. And if a reputable source says, "This was published by so-and-so in such-and-such year," I'll cite that, too, with a mention of where I found the citation.

I won't just cite some random Internet citation or unverifiable allusion, though; I'd rather be wrong on the too-late-a-date side than on the too-early.

And the standard was different at the start of the Ballad Index; at that time, it was indeed the earliest book we cited (and I didn't list the source for the date, because no one suggested that in the initial planning). And since there are a lot of old entries in the Index, some of the earliest dates are pretty obsolete. :-)