Just a simple question for you, Jim. You probably don't know the answer but an opinion would do.

MacColl during his lifetime published many books of songs. The only one which (in my opinion) is fully reliable as being totally what was sung by source singers is 'Traveller's Songs'. Having published all of these excellent books, and taking into account what you say about his father's songs, it seems very strange to me that he should put all that effort into these books with no scholarly collection of his father's or his mother's songs! Can you think of why this might be so?