As you say, Colin, we seem to be straying. And since someone just brought up Richard Anthony, one of my favorite songs was his reworking of Hedy West's "500 Miles," "J'entends siffler le train."

Hedy, I think, was my all-time favorite American woman folksinger. I last saw her perform in New York a couple of years ago, when she was persuaded out of retirement, not too long before she died. Her song was a plaintive little thing, just a couple of verses in the original, and superb in its simplicity, but I really liked RA's version.