The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #80733   Message #1473833
Posted By: dick greenhaus
28-Apr-05 - 09:30 PM
Thread Name: Objection to Bawdy Song Titles in Forum Menu
Subject: RE: Objection to JohnMehlberger
The ideal solution, I guess, would be to have some software patch that would allow sensitive souls to block any posting with a "Bawdy" tag. But we don't have such.
The alternatives seem to be:

a) don't address bawdy material. This is, IMO, too silly an alternative to consider seriously.

b) Revert to the Victorian approach of using f**k, c**t, n***r, F******g, A******k atc. Not quite as, but almost as silly. I can just hear the kids: "Mommy, what does C********r mean?" It was a dumb practice in Victorian days, and it hasn't improved with age.

c) Not include the name of the song in the posting. Well, I guess one could get responses from the first "LYRICS REQUEST: BAWDY", but subsequent requests for other songs would become incomprehensible. Or at least indistinguishable.

d)Keep on the way we are. Which doesn't seem like too bad an idea to me. Sure, it offends some folks. But, I've found, the only way to avoid offending anyone is to do nothing.

There is a wide spectrum of bawdy song, ranging from the one in question to the clever, witty ones. But they're all part of folk music. Folk NEVER has been a value judgment. And, since we can't find any agreement on the meaning of "Traditional", I would submit that the song in question fits the bill better than one like, f'rinstance, Waist Deep in Big Muddy (which I happen to prefer).

And, by the way WISIWYG, what did I sing in your living room?