I found this thread compelling enough that I wanted to respond to it, but I sat here for ages thinking "I could just go on and on, what's the point?". I guess the point is that we come to folk music because there's more to it than meets the eye. If Joe Offer and Bruce O. don't mind my singling them out, I'd like to posit them as polar ends of a continuum, if all Joe wants to do is sing, why not just go along with flavour of the month pop tunes? And if Bruce O. is just into arcane origins, why not go solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper? Folk music has the magical quality of bringing the past to life. By singing, or even just listening to these songs, experiences of people long gone are experienced anew. Joe & Bruce are both, I believe, coming to the same place from different directions. I'd love to know the origin of "Little Sir Hugh". Is it a story bred from anti-Semitism, or anti-Semitism overlayed on an old folk motif? Whatever the case, it's a good song and a worthy subject for historical research. Frank I.T.S.