"Major Misunderstanding?"
Then all that has been offered to clear that misunderstanding is abuse and disbelief - not an alternative definition certainly - not a single honest response to any of the important points - just empty denial of well documented (not by me) facts, which is more or less how all these arguments end up - "When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
(Alice through the Looking Glass)
We know what happened to Humpty Dumpty - he fell off the wall.
Bland unqualified statements like " Quite a few hitherto described as folk songs have become pop songs" - don't hack it - if they are folk songs, why aren't they in the public domain - why can't I go and put them out on an album without payment and permission.
This attitude opened the doors of our folk clubs to the P.R.S. and Imro jackals who have made the survival of the peoples's music that much more uncertain.
There is a great deal of hypocrisy happening here - shuffling around questions, deliberate distortions of what has been said -
"give a definition of folk that precludes anything Ewan MacColl wrote" being a typical example.
MacColl made it clear throughout his life that the songs he wrote were not folk songs - I made the point earlier here, yet is is used as an argument and a piece of abuse - not particularly ethical, doncha think?
What is it with you people - do you as much lack the imagination to put forward a logical, honest argument as you do to reveal to us the secrets of your new, personal definition?
Who are you trying to kid - yourself, it would appear.
Sing what you want where you want - nobody would wish to stop you - but don't try to justify the damage you have done to the music you appear to neither like in the form it was passed on, nor understand.
How about telling us what you mean by folk, why and who agrees with you? - you appear not to have a consensus of the meaning of the words Folk and Tradition to explain it fully other than your 'Humpty Dumpty' one.
C'mon - give us a real argument instead of all these somewhat distasteful attempts to bully and bluff.
Jim Carroll