Okay, Conrad, then on that, we are in agreement. I don't go to a folk concert, or any kind of concert, to hear a political harrang. But if the singer feels impelled to include a few songs of a political nature, that doesn't bother me.

Pete Seeger was thought to be a very political singer, but I've heard him, live, in a number of concerts, and he rarely included more that two or three political songs, and even then, he put them into historical context.

And--there are political songs and political songs. Anti-war songs, such as Mrs. McGrath, Johnnie, I Hardly Knew Ye, and The Band Played Waltzing Matilda anger some people of the more conservative persuasion these days, but as far as I'm concerned, that's as it should be.

Is Lilli Berlero a political song? Or The Vicar of Bray? Or The D-Day Dodgers? They certainly were at one time.

I'm not going to censor the songs I sing because they might offend someone (short of simple good taste, i.e., not singing bawdy songs in front of young children, for example). And I don't think anyone else should either. If I don't like the songs someone sings, I won't go to listen to them. And they have the same right if they don't like the songs I sing. There are enough differences in political beliefs around that I don't believe either of us will suffer greatly from lack of audiences.

Don Firth