I've been worrying about songs I grew up with which came from Community Song Books published by newspapers for crowds to sing together in halls in the 20s and 30s. And the National Song Book, published for schools. Some are not what I would think of as folk, having named authors, such as Arne, but others are clearly rooted in a folk tradition, while edited for polite society. (Sometimes not what we would think of as polite when the source is south of the Mason-Dixon line.) Some are like Villikins and his Dinah, which has passed through the music hall.

Are these songs folk?

Penny