Yes, I think that this is a very interesting question and it is my personal opinion that Shakespeare's song would still qualify as a folk song (I like to think that I would have the courage to argue this point with C# - but I'd probably 'wimp out'! "Of course you're right, Mr Sharp - you are, after all a leading authority - sorry, THE leading authority!").

Fortunately, you won't have to put that to the test :-)

From what others have said since your posting, there may be some doubt he actually claimed anonymity as an essential requirement anyway.

As for moving on from the 1954 definition, I suspect that this definition is still correct IN ESSENCE if not in every detail. In the same way we may have moved on since Darwin's day but that still doesn't negate the pioneering work that he did on the Theory of Evolution.

Point taken.

As for "blinkered bigots", yes, there may be a few of those around - on both sides of the argument! You may think, Scrump, that I am a blinkered bigot (?) and I do admit that I was rather churlish towards you in a previous thread (for which I sincerely apologise. The trouble is that I am rather passionate about the subject of traditional music and can get carried away when discussing it. I also think that, in this forum, if you don't make your points 'robustly' you can get ignored. And, let's face it, in real life I am a sober, law-abiding, upright citizen but here I can get away with being just a bit anarchic (Shimrod is, if you like, my wicked alter-ego - and he's beginning to get out of control - AAAAHHHHH!!!).

Thanks for your apology, Shimrod. I would like to apologise too, for my own 'robust' response to your comments in another recent thread. I haven't done anything like that before (at least, in Mudcat) and it was out of character for me, but I felt goaded into such a response at the time (it was late at night when I posted that response - not usually a good time to do that sort of thing. I probably should have slept on it). Anyway, I hope we can agree to put that aside and air any future disagreements more amicably from now on.

If I get a bit outrageous, now and then, just ignore me
Did somebody say something? :-)