Jumping threads, an interesting side discussion in my group has been about what songs are impervious. There seem to be some interesting categories, for example:

1) Songs that get better with age (your age). That is, you don't get tired of them, because you find more in them. An example put foward was the Beatles, "In My Life". It is simple, but it gets more poignant as time passes.

2) Songs that keep surprising. This is often associated with the mystery of changing chords or tune. One example (not a folk song) was Cole Porter's "Every Time You Say Goodbye", where there is a line, "but how strange the change from major to minor", and the song does that. Always new. (Exra Pound once called poetry news that stays news).

3) Songs that are just deep. I always find "Fire and Rain" moving, no matter who sings it or how often.

4) Songs that are ambiguous, so you never quite pin them down. "Mr. Tambourine Man" seems to fit this for some people.

5) And of course the big one: songs that were associated with your own youth!!!

Yours, Peter