The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163685   Message #3909632
Posted By: Steve Gardham
05-Mar-18 - 04:23 PM
Thread Name: Origins: James Madison Carpenter & Child Ballads
Subject: RE: Origins: James Madison Carpenter & Child Ballads
Fairly general stuff on Crawfurd. I think I remember reading either in Lyle or one of the books on Motherwell that Crawfurd was fond of Scottifying English pieces. I think what it amounts to is he would collect a song in Standard English locally and then, to make it more tempting to Motherwell, Scottify it. I'm always very careful with material that comes from being paid to go out collecting. The temptation must be there, and I include Carpenter in that but as I haven't been through the material yet in Carpenter I reserve judgment. I have seen one bit of jiggery pokery with Carpenter's stuff but that doesn't mean he was the perpetrator.