Steve,
And I am talking about our national (and indo-European repertoire) the bulk of which, in the case of sea songs, covers the day to day life aboard ship, the exploits of sailors ashore, their fantasies - their lives and experiences..... in a way, it seems to me, that could not be depicted by an outsider, any more than could a townie make anything closely resembling a bothy song with all its authenticity.
You tried (unsuccessfuly IMO) to make a special case for the Aberdeenshire songs with a description that could be applied to any isolated community (or a ship's crew, navvy gang, ranking soldier....)
My point, in constantly bringing up local songs is that 'the people' have more han proven themselves as makers of songs and it is far more probable that the songs in our national repertoire, with all their authenticity, are far more likely to have originated from the people whose lives they depict than a handful of townie hacks.
You suggest the pressing to sea of broadside writers - do you have any information on this having happened or is it speculation on your part?
You suggest sailors coming ashore to make songs - why ashore; even the most hard-pressed seamen had leisure time (according to Hugill anyway).
Do you know what the 'dead-man's -face' is in the Banks of Newfoundland - would a townie broadside hack?
Personally I attach no more significance to claims to authorship on brodside versions of traditional songs than I do to the fact the wealthy musician Phil Coulter owns a copyright on 'Well Below The Valley' (Maid and The Palmer').
It seems to me that, by denying their main claim to creativity, the folk songs, you have set your mind to proving, like my teacher and Duncan Emrich, that 'the people' created nothing of any signifgicance.
Nothing new there - it has been happening most of my musical life and it flies in the face of everything I've read, been told, and experienced over the last forty odd years, so I will continue to argue with you as long as you continue to present your opinions as facts.
Best,
Jim Carroll