From: Jim Carroll - PM
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 08:27 AM
There is the wold of difference between a parody and the repetition of a piece from Carousel Jack.
Parodies have always accepted candidates as folk songs - simple repetition is simple repetition - no more.
"I rate McGinn far above MacColl"
à chacun son goût
As much as I enjoyed Matt's songs, the ones that will follow me to the end of my days are masterpieces like 'Joy of Living', 'Shellback', My Old Man, Farewell to Ireland 'Tenant Farmer'....... and the hundred or so other MacColl compositions I still get a buzz from decades after I first heard them - no competition, as far as I'm concerned - but this is about definition, not personal taste.
Jim Carroll

No, this if about "how to write a folk standard", if such a feat is possible, intentionally. The discussion "What is folk" can be found in many other threads in Mudcat.
You may believe that this discussion is about the definition of 'folk', but that doesn't appear to have been the intention of the original poster!

Cheers
Nigel