TIME, Bounty Hound. Time and usage.

If no one but the person who wrote the song ever sings it, then it's NOT a folk song. But if a pop song (not a folk song to begin with) gets picked up and sung by a whole bunch of people (NOT professional singers), then it's on its way to becoming what scholars and folklorists call a "folk song."

I don't see what is so difficult to understand about this.

Actually, I DO know what the problem is. The songwriter who wants his or her stuff accepted as a folk song—thus gaining a status that it has not yet earned!!—calls it a "folk song" the first time it's ever sung by anyone (himself or herself).

Phony, phony, phony!!!

Don Firth