Is it a folk song? Well....if it were for sale at a record store, the clerks would probably put it in the "folk" bin.

You will see numerous threads pondering the question of "What Is Folk?" and many people get downright angry in those arguments. I think that most people here agree that to be a folk song, a song has to be subjected to the "folk process" - handed down from one person to another, and changing and taking on a life of its own in the process. For this to happen, there has to be an element of timelessness to the song - if the subject has its 15 minutes of fame and is forgotten, the song is likely to have the same fate and never grow up to be a folk song. Its eternal fate may be to be a "singer-songwriter" song.

But if you want to call it a folk song, it's okey-dokey with me. Probably, though, it's better to not even ask if such-and-such is a folk song. Them folkie purists is armed and dangerous. Besides, whether or not it's a good song is a far more pertinent question. I think this will probably be one of those "15 minutes of fame" songs.

-Joe-