In the late 60's in Dublin there was a Folk Club run by among others the gentlemanly Gerry O'Grady,called The Old Triangle, firstly in a basement in Mount Street and later in Middle Abbey Street.
It was a wonderful gathering in a wonderful time, being a mixing ground for then commercially successful musicians and singers, old men who never made a penny but held audiences captive with songs that may otherwise have died with them, young up-and-comings looking for notice, and international folkies relaxing after ending a concert somewhere,and then us- the ones who looked and listened and enjoyed and gained a life-time of memories to cherish.
The 'Dubs' were regular attenders , collectively and individually, and often sang songs rarely in their concert presentations or recordings.
The ethic of the club was to respect the performer and to listen in silence to the contribution and in the case of a new-comer to show appreciative encouragement.
One night in the Abbey Street cellers a young lad offered to sing and started into a 'contemporary' Canadian song.
In the silence, an over-loud whisper of derision was heard that this was not a 'folk' song which embarrassed the young singer greatly.
When he finished Luke Kelly immediately grabbed someones guitar and without invitation stepped forward to sing.
With pointed reference to the sneering arse-hole who upset the previous lad, Luke went on to explain what he understood a 'folk-song' was, "it was simply a song sung by the people and not dependant on any exclusive 'tradition'" .
To demonstrate, he started into 'Hey Jude' and in seconds the whole assembly, including the vindicated youth and the arse-hole were singing with him.
It was a privledge to have shared the moments.