For those who can't be bothered to read the whole of the thread, this is where we started:
From: Andy7 - PM
Date: 27 Oct 16 - 06:40 PM

I'd love, one day, to write a folk standard, that everyone sings around the clubs.

I know I almost certainly never will, haha!

But I wonder, what is it that turns a great song - of which there are many - into a 'standard', that so many people enjoy performing, and so many more enjoy joining in with the chorus?

Good words, good tune, not too hard to sing, all those of course ... but what is that extra special 'something' that makes those songs so popular?