This last weekend (October 10th) the Tradsong Forum had it's quarterly meeting with discussion papers around the influence of the printed word on what we call folk song.

Those who led the discussion included Steve Roud, Steve Gardham and Roy Palmer. I can't imagine people questioning their credentials, though no doubt someone will try.

Steve Gardham in particular who has spent a lifetime gathering together and studying printed material is convinced that most songs we regard as "traditional" have a printed origin. Of course it won't be the version that you now hear sung and sometimes the songs have altered beyond instant recognition.

It rather gives the lie to the suggestion that printing destroys the oral tradition if the so-called oral tradition was a print one anyway.