Some of MacColl's own songs will probably stand the test of time.   "The moving on song" is very popular. But is it sung by travellers as a traveller song? His work discovering and preserving the Scottish tradition was worthwhile. But compare, say, his "Gairdner Child" with those of artists who actually are Scottish. Or some of the recordings of Scottish traditional songs he did with Peggy Seeger. Nuff said?

Derek may have been being polite: are you familiar with the question the French ask of (typically) almost competent English speakers of French? "Vous n'etes pas de cette region" (accents omitted by reason of laziness). It means "You're a damned foreigner aren't you, but at least you are trying to speak a proper language so I out of reciprocated politeness will pretend you can do it well"