I do not object against using RUS and other songbooks (- note that I am not talking about ritualized singarounds like the one Joe wrote about where RUS was banned explicitly -), but there are some songs in them that I suspect are only sung by the owners. This indicates to me that they are not popular in the sense of quasi folk songs. Other songs have grown wings so that their (copyrighted) songbook origin is not even known to most singers; that is real folklore.

"Happy Birthday" and many similar songs, notably children's songs, are folk songs by all standards, even if formally copyrighted. What I find most interesting, in the light of that other thread "... new song ...", is pop songs that made it into de-facto folklore. "You Are My Sunshine" is a good example. Musical folklore is still alive beyond the "Folk" genre and scene, but not as alive as it could be. "They don't write them like that any more ..."

As for hymns and anthems, they inevitably have an un-folkish component, particularly when sung at rituals. This is true even if the singers may not wish to profess their faith in the lyrics taken literally. In a recent thread about football, national anthems of questionable lyrics were discussed, notably the Marseillaise. Like the "Battle Hymn", they are often sung by drunkards in pubs with great laughter - still, they don't have that real folk song character in my ears.

Any more pop songs that are sung in your pubs by young people? From Bert's long list, I do not see many that I remember ever to have heard in such a context. "Blowing in the Wind," OK, but that usually counts as "Folk".