In the interesting discussions above there is a tendancy to talk about whether ot not the 'songs' are traditional. Surely you have to also consider the 'singing' as well.

For instance, over on the Musical Traditions thread, Dick Miles quoted a list of songs and song types that he identified as traditional or not. I had no particular opinion on any of it except I was promted to wonder when he quoted 'The Mistletoe Bough', giving an author, a date (1868 I think) and suggesting that it wasn't traditional. Fair enough, except that it is one of the songs that is 'traditionally' sung as part of the repertoire of the Blue Ball at Worrell (and other pubs) during the 'traditional' Sheffield Carols in UK every December. The singers don't know the author, probably think it's an older song and don't think too much about it anyway. They just have a 'tradition' of singing it and it has the ethos of 'traditional' even though it was composed (if nearly a century and a half ago).

So, in the light of this discussion, do YOU think it's a traditional song or not?

Johnny Adams