A couple of observations on recent postings. Re. David Buchan and the "no set texts" idea, when I first came across this I was initially very sceptical (despite the undeniable fact that in the Ballads there are certainly set phrases and methods of structuring a story, &c), and was not surprised to read some years later that the theory was based upon two renditions of a ballad given by a Mrs ?Scott, renditions which did indeed have differences; but they were given many, many years apart. Is it not more likely that she had herself altered the way of it in the intervening years, or perhaps even forgotten some of it and "patched" together a version which differed from her earlier rendition, than the altogether more complex theory advanced by D.B.?

More surely, for examples of the "hoax" approach mentioned by "Scrump", we need do no more than read a few of Robert Burns's letters related to the making of songs (to George Thomson and James Tytler, for instance) and then seek out the six volumes of The Scots Musical Museum for those songs ascribed to "R.", "B.", "X" and "Z". How many of these seize the spirit and idiom of the "Traditional" so well that they have been accepted as having been "done time out of mind"? They might even have fooled J. Heaney (though I suspect the concern in that example was more with melody). Burns's own manuscript of "Auld Lang Syne" (National Library of Scotland; in the interleaved "Glenriddell" S.M.M.) ascribes the words to an old man from whom R.B. allegedly took them down. Aye, right!

Going back to the very earliest postings, and whether a, or the, Tradition is dead, moribund, past and gone, done and dusted, I know of a good number of songs made in both Scotland and Ireland which are concerned with events of the last decades, and think some of these of very high quality. Most significant for this discussion, some of them certainly employ conventions characteristic of similar songs from previous centuries (in particular, Irish songs of location), both with regard to content and idiom. Thus, they are both currently relevant and fit comfortably into a longstanding tradition. Without going into any further detail but wishing to close on a humorous note, I've made a few myself (who knows; if I manage to add another half-dozen over the years, I might even get them recorded) and have had the words requested by quite a few singers; on one occasion, when a lady learnt that I had made a particular song myself, she said in surprise, "Oh! I thought it was a REAL song....."