obviously speak as you find....

The common ones tend to be very good, a lot of the rest I find unmemorable - as do many of the performers apparently, from the frequency with which they forget the words.

As I said some people can make them come alive - but many of the songs are as the Martin Carthy quote I put in a subsequent thread says - not really user friendly, shall we say. they come from a time when the rules of music and the idea of what constituted a song was very different.

Be honest, very few people go round singing Shakespeare's songs. they're different. Some of the songs we are talking about are that old and older. Who knows, perhaps you are one of those few who can hold a room in the palm of your hand with your pwerformance. But I have observed its a rare gift. Rarer, i fancy than most traditional singers realise.