2nd hand Harker now over a hundred quid :( Interlibrary loan, then.

From a review (unfavourable overall) of Boyce and Harker by E David Gregory. Like *Roud*, Gregory finds bit of Harker less objectionable than others. It may be one can reasonably view Harker as an "excellent scholar" without rubbishing his whole oeuvre including Fakesong. I don't know enough of course to judge but people I would respect (including Gammon) appear to have taken this approach. And others I respect not of course. I quote:

"Let us begin by giving Dave Harker his due. .
?an important and innovative book that provides useful insights into the history and business of music publishing. Harker correctly pointed out that folksong and ballad collecting was a task undertaken mainly by middle-class intellectuals. His claim that vernacular song collecting has usually involved a relationship between different classes of society is unassailable. Moreover, some song collectors were avaricious, others were fraudulent, and I would by no means attempt to defend every single one of them from his charges.

For example, we should recognise that Tom D'Urfey's motive in assembling Pills to Purge Melancholy was primarily financial, and he seems to have readily "borrowed" songs from any source he could. Much the same could be said about A Collection of Old Ballads and its anonymous author. Thomas Percy undoubtedly created quite a few fakesongs when in the first edition of his Reliques he published his own rewrites of ballads as if they were the texts to be found in the famous folio manuscript. Frederick Sheldon seems to have shared Percy's perspective on the legitimacy of "polishing" texts and then still claiming them to be authentic "originals.” Several of the Scottish Romantics (including, at least initially, Sir Walter Scott) did the same, with Pinkerton the worst offender. As a result, a small number of ballads that were wholly or largely the creations of enthusiastic imitators were passed off as authentic creations of the "folk", although these were usually exposed sooner or later."

* Trying to keep on topic however vaguely*

Noting that Percy was much relied upon by Child {this being one of the firts things u learn as a beginner, in addition to how to survive under online crossfire :) }.

There was a good joke about Keats on another thread here. Colonel tells Sargeant Major to get troops together for a lecture on Keats. SM says to troops 'Now, you orrible lot. It has been brought to the Colonel's attention that some of you don't know what a Keats is'.


Just tring to lighten the tone before we get another yellow card.