I really wonder how many people who are bad-mouthing the "1954 definition" and other efforts by folklorists and ethnomusicologists have actually read this material, carefully, all the way through, and then thought about it for awhile without instant knee-jerking.

I really wonder why people who apparently don't like what those like me (and others) consider to be folk songs (traditional songs, such as those found in Sharp's and Lomax's collections, Child ballads, and such) and prefer the songs of Jacques Brel, songs such as "People" recorded a few decades ago by Barbra Streisand, "Memory" from Cats, or really old songs like "Old Buttermilk Sky" by Hoagy Carmichael, or songs they have written themselves and whom no one else sings—or wants to sing—or wants to hear a second time for that matter—and then insist that everyone else acknowledge these songs as folk songs, ostensibly because "I'm a 'folk' [as contrasted with a horse, I presume] and these are the songs I like to sing. Learn those boring old ballads? Not me!"

I really wonder why these people seem to feel that the aforementioned songs are not acceptable as good songs per se unless those who are primarily interested in traditional folk songs (from Sharp, Lomax, et al) acknowledge them as "folk songs."

I really wonder why, if some people find traditional folk songs and ballads so bloody boring, they want to spend time in folk clubs at all.

I really wonder why there are people who are bright enough to know better, but who seem to be too mentally lazy to deal with the time-honored and essential tools of clear thinking, such as "define your terms."

I really wonder why I waste my time on this thread. I'm going to go and play some music.

Traditional folk music. You know:   from Sharp, Lomax, etc.

Don Firth

P. S.   GUEST, a passing academic, thank you for your post at 23 Mar 09 - 09:21 a.m.

P. P. S.   "If someone writes a song in 2009 about the lives of British working people, should we ignore it because it is not a folk song?" No, of course not. But why do you feel it's so bloody essential to insist that it's a "folk song?" Especially, when it's new and has not had time to go through "the folk process?" Although I am generally regarded as a "folk singer," if a song appeals to me, I will learn it and sing it, whether or not it is a traditional song. But I will not try to pass it off as a "folk song." I credit the source, as ethically one should.