GUEST(Jim),
to paraphrase you: I might suggest that with your last statement you are goading the good Captain, or trying to - but I don't want to be accused of criticising - anyway, I am sure you yourself have criticised others at one time or another :-)

The Captain did respond to at least some of your points, for example the one about unconscious or self-conscious changes to traditional songs. And I agree with him that at least some times unconscious changes can and do occur - without there being any cause for disparaging them in the way that seems intended by your PS statement.

In fairness, I don't believe that you are poles apart in your appreciation of the tradition, at least as expressed in this thread.
Perhaps some antagonism borne of the past is colouring the posts, and it can confuse the discussion, but OK, you believe that tradition is dead (your words), while the Captain believes that it is on-going. I confess to leaning on his side personally, even as I acknowledge your right to a different opinion. Perhaps you are both correct, even, in that the "existing" tradition is dead, but "new" traditions could be in the making as we speak, without us being able to identify them today, because we are too close - they will be judged in generations to come.