Tim,

I think almost everybody on this thread agrees that the song in question is not traditional and this includee Seth, who wrote it. Argument resolved?

Their is a continuum in folk clubs, at festivals and in recordings of songs written a few days ago by someone who is known and dozens of variants of some ballads that can be traced back 400 years without finding out who wrote any of it. Many songs exist somewhere in between.

The main difference between the thing we call "folk" ie the clubs, festivals and recordings and the commercial world of popular music is that folk is mostly made possible by people who run clubs and / or sing in them for nothing other than the pleasure they gain in keeping alive a strange collection of music.

We don't mind if you don't care. We object to Smooth Opps doing something or other in secret and confusing our general conviction that this music belongs to us all. We enjoy the Award winners, but they are only a small part of the dog and we what the contest for the curliest tail to be fair.

If you carry on abusing us all you are a troll, figure that out if you can.