As I recall it, the peasants (how our Henry always chooses the most emotive and least pleasant of the available descriptors) were quite willing and often pleased to pass on their songs, as well they should be.

So what does Henry propose as the best way to preserve them? Restrict the singing of them to those who are currently toiling and labouring in those areas of employment which first inspired the songs.

So that's all the following fucked:

Songs about:

Lords and Ladies
Jesters
Sailors before the mast
Cutpurses
Highwaymen
Imprisoned debtors
Ploughboys
Grooms
Ostlers
Blacksmiths
Boatwrights
Wheelrights
Wagonmakers
Candlemakers
etc. etc. etc.

Clever Henry. He has singlehandedly placed more restriction on the genre in a few ill considered, idiotic, sentences than licensing laws have managed in more than a decade.

What the hell is he doing on this forum, and more importantly, why are any of us bothering with his specious crap?

Don T.