"As one who leans toward what you erroneously call the "Anything Goes Brigade", may I ask do you have any evidence to support that slur about not wanting traditional songs to be sung because we "can't be arsed"?
Not a lot of time to read though all this properly at present - but suggest you read my post more carefully, which was a response to SO'P's:
"If people never sang another note of these songs it would be no bother me at all; they have been sung by the masters - Phil Tanner, Davie Stewart, Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, Sam Larner, Willie Scott, Mrs Pearl Brewer of Arkansas et al - let that be enough to let them resound down the ages."
It was me who couldn'd be arsed digging this piece of reactionary nonsense from a previous post.
CS
I've always had difficulty in distinguishing the difference between 'fun' and 'pleasure' and always presumed that they are the same thing.
I sang and listened for fun/pleasure, the peak of which was when I or anybody sang something well which the audence enjoyed and understood. I never enjoyed singing badly in public, and the fact that my singing is no longer what it was is the reason I avoid singing nowadays.
We NEVER differentiated between paying guests and those who turned up each week to sing. I feel that throwing open folk songs to the general public requires that you present them in an acceptible form - otherwise I would have stayed at home and sung in the bath.
Jim Carroll