Stringsinger, thank you for explaining this to me, (and I agree the song is asking for compassion). Any singer IMO can interpret a folksong in his/her own style and should not be criticised in a snobbish way. The essence of all this seems to me to be 'How 'authentic' should a version of a song be? How does one style become 'better' than another? Does having a preference denigrate the song?' With my pupils, I was glad enough to get them singing, and to have them learn some wonderful traditional stuff. I didn't judge their singing, but it just made me giggle at times, their little innocent faces singing about bottles of rum! I hate snobbery and hope that no-one could accuse me of it.