Susanne, I don't really follow the logic. If he put his name on it, alias or no, then it's just not anonymous or pseudonominous (huh?).

Have another look at the booklet, if you will. It doesn't say '(alias Hamish Henderson).' It just says '(Hamish Henderson).'

Only two of the 23 songs are credited and those not as to author, but rather as to who gave him the song. The whole is presented as if collected from the various services- giving fairly equal treatment to the Italian and German songs. He even includes the original Lili Marleen.

I can at least say he treats equally anonamously a few songs I know to be not by him, one I know to be by him (and not bawdy) and D-Day which is, let's say, partly by him.

By "egalitarian" I was just being euphemistic for Communist. There was still the concept of avoiding personal ownership or copyright.

But I take your other points well. I never thought of his trying to separate this from his "serious" work, 'Cyrenaika.' Could be. I don't know when he found his life path but in 1948 he may well have thought drinking and singing folk song were lesser occupations than poetry. It was a grand thing for the world he soon straightened out on that score.

AND, I'm sure you're right about the difficulty of publishing "Ballads" any way except under-the-counter & privately. You're sure the Lili Marlene Club was entirely fictitious? I never asked him about it but I've always imagined three or four Edinburgh (or even Glasgow) veterans sitting around a pub singing bawdy WW II songs. Maybe even Sandy Bell's.

Abby