I would be interested in finding out something that has fascinateed me since I first became interested in folk song - particularly ballads. How do non-believers deal with superntural songs?
While in the Critics Group, one of the most successful aspects of their work was in the singer relating the songs to experiences in their lives in order to make them relevant (like Stanislavski did with acting - Emotion Memory, Application of the Idea of If). It was not always easy to apply, but when it worked - wow, did it work! It left you with a reason to keep some of the songs you sang most frequently in your repertoire forever.
We interviewed fellow disbeliever MacColl on this one time, and I started to put together a talk based on the idea for our local history society (Things That Go Bump In The Ballads), but never got round to finishing it.
I wonder how other people tackle it; suspension of belief, simple storytelling - personally, have never found either of these enough to keep ballads alive for more than half a dozen singings.
Thanks,
Jim Carroll
PS The same applies to ballads where you find it difficult to sympathise with or relate to the characters; we had a fascinating discussion with MacColl on Edom O' Gordon around this.