"But experience suggests that people who 'innocently' ask the types of questions that you asked almost always (think that they) 'know' the answers in advance and are really just stirring it."


Well, pardon me. For a minute there I thought that this was a discussion forum and that, as the thread is about The Folk Process, it would be interesting to hear some opinions, but our self-appointed GUEST moderator has decided he/she knows better than us and wants to dictate what Mudcat members can and can't post here, as well as being a mind-reader who can discern our motives without, on his/her own admission, knowing anything about us.

Anyway, back to the subject. Having been talking to a number of singer/songwriters at the weekend, there seemed to be a general consensus that they did, for various reasons, want to be recognised as the authors of their songs rather than have them deemed Trad. or Anon.(as has happened with songs like John Connolly's 'Fiddlers Green). What was interesting, however, was that they often resurrected half-forgotten stories and legends as the subjects for songs that had, I suppose, been through a sort of 'folk process' before the songs were written.