Regarding the use of printed sources Howar, we invariably found that they were regarded rather ambivalently - few learned them fully, rather, they fortified already songs by borrowing verses.
Some treated them with mistrust, even disdain.
A typical example of this was when recorded an hour-long story from a local storyteller which we later found in a book, Patrick Kennedy's 'Fireside Romances'
When we asked the storyteller whether he knew about it, he replied- "Yes, but Kennedy has it all wrong - them fellers always do"
That reflected the attitude of several singers.
The over-riding attitude was to treat the written word as sacrosanct and unalterable
The whole question of literacy is a complicated one in itself.
When Victoria came to the throne Education was for the wealth only, it was passed on to the poor by the Ragged Schools run by volunary teachers anxious that they should be able to learn to read the bible.
A third of the population were regarded as literate, largely the Urban better off - hardly any of the labouring poor could read and none could write.
It has been suggested that people bought broadsides and had the songs read to them, so we have poor people "living in abject conditions one step above slavery" who "would not have had the inclination to make their own songs", yet were happy enough to spend what they had on these song sheets and find the time it would take to be taught them by the few who could read.
If they didn't like the versions they had bought, they would then take the time to edit out the bits they didn't like.
In Ireland, which has a large number of songs probably originating in England, they had the added problem that in many rural areas, the first language was Irish, with many hardly able to speak English, let alone read it.
Yet still, in the mid seventies, fifty Child Ballads were still extant in the repertoires of country singers
Jim Carroll