I suspect the 1735 quote was actually about buskers who sang from broadsides & ballad sheets, most of them pretty commercial, high-flown, and trite, rather than singers of ballads from the oral tradition. That doesn't detract from the various interesting stuff in this thread though, or from the fun of reading Democritus' diatribe....

Liz, you're so right about modern people being impatient and accustomed to sound bites. Singing a long song to yourself is a great way to make the time pass when you're doing something routine such as spinning (or woodburning, in my case, or sorting bills....) Guess they don't have much appeal for people who like to think of themselves as being on the fast track.

I've almost always liked long songs. I played piano and sang as a kid. If I liked a song I sang it through -- all the verses. It always frustrates me to go to a Christmas carol sing and discover no one wants to sing more than the first verse of each song.

In her class on Appalachian ballads, Sheila Kaye Adams taught me something about listening -- and not just to ballads. She kept saying, "Don't listen with your head. Listen with your heart! You have to feel what these people are feeling." It did change the way I listen to music (and sing it, too.) It puts you inside the song and your attention stays right there instead of wandering.

Rita F