What proportion of so called 'folk' songs are of this type, artful inventions by a single individual?

All of them I shouldn't wonder, Paul - certainly in respect of their essential empiricism which I believe to be the mechanism of what is all too sweepingly called the folk process. The undisputed fluidity in which such songs once existed is the consequence of a cultural genius which only becomes collective if we ignore the fact that any such cultural phenomenon is determined by individuals - in this case, highly specialised individuals as well versed in the intricacies of their craft as any cooper, carpenter or wheelwright. The denial of the individual is standard thinking in the study of so-called Folklore in which those who innocently participate in traditions must be entirely passive to a process they themselves will never understand or yet even be aware of - indeed, if ever they did become aware of such things, this would contaminate the purity of the folklore. Thus, such processes might only be understood by the educated classes who have defined them, studied them, collected them, categorised them, and, latterly, underwritten the orthodoxy that is the so-called Folk Song Revival. Such an approach is the musical equivalent of the Lynn Truss school of grammatical correctness - a noxious pedantry which is not so much a living music as the residue of the bourgeois hobbyism which gave us the whole idea of Folk Music in the first place.

*

Apology: It is 11.45am after a late night session singing traditional songs, drinking too much beer and passive smoking; I am hungover and (still) flu-ridden, despite this I feel oddly empowered with respect of my ongoing indignation that is perfectly explained by the title of this thread. I am, alas, working-class ill-educated scum whose approach to such matters over the years has been entirely intuitive; I have a passion for the old songs and the singers thereof (whom I regard as masters of their art) who stand in stark contrast to the so-called Folk Singers of the revival who have, with but few exceptions (Peter Bellamy, Seamus Ennis & Jim Eldon) little to do with the earthy virtuosity of the aforementioned masters. Thus I seek sanctuary in singarounds and sessions where something of that potency might be experienced by way of a collective seance of other such individuals, though I am the first to admit it is by no means flawless.