Jim Carroll wrote:
"One of the exercises we did in the Critics group was to first tell the story of the song in your own words, then speak the text as if you were telling the story. [...]"

That sounds like a good way of doing it.

I've been interested in folksongs for a long time and my parents had records of various folk-style singers. One problem I had was what to _do_ with the songs. I play the guitar reasonably well but I have a rubbish voice and couldn't have a career as a folksinger or folk-style singer, even if I wanted to. In my opinion, a good voice makes up for a multitude of sins.

For some strange reason, in the last couple of years I've written many, many song parodies, quite a few of folksongs and ballads, most of which are connected with the obscure British radio drama "The Archers", which some of the British people here may have heard of. That may not be a particularly good answer of what to do with folksongs, but it is one I've found.

The connection to the topic of accents is that it seems somehow "okay" to make a stab at an accent for comic effect. For example, it would normally be fairly ridiculous of me to sing "John Henry" but singing a parody doesn't seem so. Comedy either gets a laugh or it doesn't. However, it would make me very happy if someone read my parody and discovered an interest in the real thing.

I do actually sing "straight" versions of nearly all of the songs that I've parodied. One of these days I want to try to get a PC and a webcam that I can use to make a video and I'll post some things on YouTube, rubbish voice or no.

Here's a link to one thread with parodies, in case anyone's interested. If one listens to "The Archers", one might find it amusing. If one doesn't, one won't understand it at all.

Child-ish Ballads
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbarchers/F2693941?thread=3691636