>The man should have taken credit, proudly, for his
>original stuff and let it go at that.

I heard "Venezuela" first on a shellac 78 in an album I had some time in the early 40's. Something about the sound of it raised dark suspicions (in those days, I thought every folk singer was pure and authentic). Then, along about 1970, I heard Niles perform live. By that time, he could be more frank. He confirmed my suspicions about "Venezuela". Then he disillusioned me about "Go 'way from my window" which I had never suspected. It was sort of true, he said, that he got it from [...??.. some kind of authentic person] but then he sang what the authentic person actually sang. It sounded more like a field holler than anything else, and the only words were "Go way from my window. Don't bother me no more." The rest Niles added.

The reason for the subterfuge, he said, is that when he was starting out, ALL folk songs had to be old and collected from authentic persons. Nowadays (ca 1970), you can admit you made it up.