Even in maths it is possible to believe passionately in an idea that is wrong. David Hilbert gave a famous lecture in which exhorted his audience to work on the 23 important questions he had selected, because as he said, there is no such thing as an unsolvable mathematical problem. As it turned out the very first question he posed was an unanswerable question. The information supplied by Don Firth that "Tom Dooley" is a variant of a song of unknown authorship handed down in an oral tradition from generation to generation leaves me believing passionately that there is a difference between folk songs and other songs, but since I believe "Tom Dooley" is some of the other stuff, I see that I don't know what I'm talking about. Having admitted this, I still have some advice for those who are setting about to write a folk song: the topic is of no importance. The song does not have to tell a story, be for peace or motherhood, or against war and injustice. As Gilbert put it in one his wonderful songs, which is not a folk song 'cause Gilbert and Sullivan wrote it, "The flowers that bloom in the spring, have nothing to do with the case." And Don, if you happen to know that Sullivan swiped the tune from an old English air and Gilbert swiped the words from old English rhyme, please don't tell me.