G'day Herring lovers (loathers?),

Herring seems to be only an exotic import here in Australia - my Scouser friends keep it commercially viable by keeping up the demand.

Abbey Sale: You point about the way Ewan's songs have gone back into the tradition is very good. I guess it shows how well the tradition was respected in their making.

I loved Sam Larner's reaction when Ewan & Peggy diffidently sang the song (crafted from all his tales and speech) back to him for comment. Apparently he replied (~) "Boy ... I've knowed that song all my life!". One could not ask for greater approbation. (Source: recorded talk by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on the Folk tradition, played on ABC [Australia], late 1970s.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Perhaps Barbabra's hope of a definitive version was not so much the problem as The Fenian's remark "...I've only ever heard two people sing it right with the high's and low's in exactly the right places."