P O'B
"…..if it wasn't for the faith, diligence and hard work of Jim Carroll and people like him."

Please do not patronise me – I doubt if you have any idea what kind of collectors Pat and I are and whether we did a reasonable job or made a complete hames of it – have you heard our recordings, apart from the few artefacts we have issued on a tiny handful of albums (have you heard all or any of them)? And please don't insult me by reducing my experience to that of a collector – done a bit more than that over the last forty odd years (singer, club organiser, beer glass collector, chair mover, workshop organiser and participant, archive setter-upper and contributor…...)
Folkie Dave is right; I have become increasingly irritated by the extraordinary arrogance of these recent threads.
What are we being asked to accept? We are apparently being asked to take on trust the armchair musings of two individuals who not only have carried out no research themselves whatever, but appear to be proud of that fact ("never read a book in my life….." (sorry to repeat this but it goes through these threads like 'Blackpool' goes though rock)); one of who appears to believe that anybody who disagrees with him is mad (come back Norman Bates, all is forgiven!) and another who goes into near-orgasmic ecstasies when an organisation he has spent a fair deal of time pouring contempt on changes its name. In doing so we are required to abandon the conclusions we have reached as a result of any work we might have done ourselves, as well as that of the army of collectors and researchers over the last century or so, (sloppy and agenda laden as they may be). And for what? The unsubstantiated declarations of the folk equivalents of Del Boy and Rodders, which fly in the face of everything I have come to accept as simple common-sense during my years of involvement .
Let's have a quick shuftie at what's on offer.
'Folk – tradition – oral transmission – are all the wet-dreams of researchers carrying out sloppy and agenda-ridden work.'
In that case, where did the 200-odd versions of Barbara Allen come from; how did 'The Unfortunate Rake' end up in all the locations and personae he/she did throughout the English-speaking world down the centuries; who whittled down 'The Blind Beggar' from its 60/70 verse totally unsingable form to the beautifully flowing 8 verse versions found in Britain, Ireland, the US, Canada…. in the intervening centuries? What turned the somewhat crude and stilted 'The Sea Crabb' to be found in Percy's 'Loose and Humorous Songs,' into the magnificent Chauceresque song recorded all over the British Isles and still to be found here in The West of Ireland (and in many rugby clubs and pubs at chucking-out time)?   
A suggestion; I know you are averse to research so I'll keep it to a minimum (my bit of patronising).
Thumb through the early collections; Percy's 'Reliques', The 'Roxborough' and 'Ebsworth' Ballads, the early printed versions of Child ballads for instance and see how centuries of being carried in the heads and the mouths of 'The Folk' has changed many of them from unsingable stodge into small (and sometimes not so small) masterpieces. Now how did that happen, I wonder!!! I go with MacColl's beautiful description from the Song Carriers;
"Well, there they are, the songs of our people. Some of them have been centuries in the making, some of them undoubtedly were born on the broadside presses. Some have the marvellous perfection of stones shaped by the sea's movement. Others are as brash as a cup-final crowd. They were made by professional bards and by unknown poets at the plough-stilts and the handloom. They are tender, harsh,, passionate, ironical, simple, profound.... as varied, indeed, as the landscape of this island.
We are indebted to the Harry Coxes and Phil Tanners, to Colm Keane and Maggie MacDonagh, to Belle Stewart and Jessie Murray and to all the sweet and raucous unknown singers who have helped to carry our people's songs across the centuries."
Was going to go on to the 'anonymous master composer' suggestion, but this is already far too long – another time maybe!
Parting shot to our folk revisionists.
There's a rather amusing cartoon pinned up over the bar in our local, which depicts two peahens looking on at a peacock's magnificent display; one peahen is saying "Never mind all that shit – show us your willie".
How about it lads?
Jim Carroll