Just to correct any erroneous impressions. Keith Summers visited Maggie Murphy on three occasions, the first being in the spring of 1979. He said that at first she was reluctant to sing for him, because Kennedy had made her sign a "bit of paper" assigning all the rights to him, not only of the songs she sang to Kennedy, but any that she might subsequently remember.

Keith, never one to mince words, probably told her something to the effect that a contract like that wasn't worth the paper it was written on, because he then got her to sing at least eight songs for him.

A partial attempt at objectification. It's likely that Kennedy told her she would receive royalties on anything published. He may or may not have told her that she would only get fifty per cent. (Kennedy used to pocket the other fifty.) He may also, but probably didn't, have explained to her the difficulty of getting him to actually unleash any of the dosh.

I've no idea therefore whether she and her sister Sarah ever earned anything from Linking O'er The Lea, either from the Caedmon record which it appeared on, or from any revival performances. It was after all, quite a popular song on the English folk scene in the 1960s.

One way and another though, I'm sure I must have met more honest double glazing salesmen.

And in case anyone asks, royalties were paid on the recordings which were used for the Musical Traditions 'Hardy Sons of Dan' release.