The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #79844 Message #1896809
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
30-Nov-06 - 03:42 PM
Thread Name: Songs that should have been folk songs
Subject: RE: Songs that could yet be folk songs
Basically what determines it, for me, is when a song gets passed on by people who may have no idea who wrote it and recorded it, they just heard someone singing it and liked it enough to sing it themselves.
Once that happens a few time, it's into the oral tradition, which is what counts.
But I quite agree with dick greenhaus that "folk" shouldn't be used as a value judgement - plenty of great songs that aren't folk songs yet, and plenty of great songs that will never become folk songs; and a fair number of songs that are undeniably folk sings that aren't that good.
And I also agree that "should have been" is the wrong word - "could yet be" might be better, which is why I modified the heading in this post.