dead right McGrath of Harlow! Too many followers of folk/traditional music & song are all too ready to accept that the first written version is the original!
Such rigidity of view is a contradiction in terms, and a lot of old cobblers of course. Having a mythical 'original' version does enable students of ethnomusicology to create theses about its subsequent journey through the folk process & to keep a few academics in work.

The downside is that it does a grave disservice to the real 'tradition bearers in denying that anything of value can be created by the PEOPLE rather than the plagiarists/composers who set up the alleged 'original' version, however long ago.