From: Gene Burton - PM
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 08:32 AM

"I've only had the time to skim read this one, so apologies if this duplicates anyone elses's thoughts...but, for the umpteenth time, could somebody please explain to me where the "traditional unauthored folk song" comes from?"

To the best of my knowledge, it comes from a theory about how folksongs came to be. One school of thought favored the idea that someone had written them and they were changed (and possibly "debased") as they spread from mouth-to-mouth. Another favored the idea that they were composed "collectively" and didn't have a single author.

The truth is, no one really knows. It probably lies somewhere in between; some songs more one way, some more another. Someone came up with the idea of the "folk-process" to describe how songs change as they are transmitted.

Sorry, it's all a bit complicated and would require lots of looking-up and footnotes to do the topic justice.