In the case of Freight Train I beleieve that McDevitt added a verse of his own " He lost his reason, lost his life......etc" and is therefore able to claim a piece of the royalties when someone sings a version of the song which includes that verse. For anyone performing the song the way that Elizabeth Cotten performed it therefore songwriting royalties should only be paid to Cotten's estate.

To clarify one point with which M Ted claims not to be familiar, as I pointed out above PPL collects royalties on behalf of the performers on a piece of recorded work whoever the writer/composer might be.Kenny Ball would therefore definitely be due PPL royalties.

Hoot