Actually Frank it WAS here! See that thread I linked above? It goes to a 2000 thread about Dylan's use of trad (Its also at the top of this thread in the link list) and has all the same stuff as this one. Equally though, it includes many additional opinions including some great posts by a few who only post rarely or not at all for various reasons. There are also a few names that are the same as this thread. Go and read the posts by Sandy Paton, a well respected and knowledgeable    source if there ever was one. His take on Dylan's usagecomes from a different angle to some degree and are worth the effort to go back and read the whole thread. As I mentioned before, Jean Ritchie's postings explain what actually happened regarding Nottamun Town.

Also------"I make an exception for music because there are only a limited number of useful, melodic permutations of notes, beats to the bar and so on, with which to construct a tune"

I kinda' assume that was a joke. But if not, spend an afternoon with Charlie Parker or Dave Brubeck and see if you still agree with it.

Spaw