Who suggested sme songs didn't come from broadsides - certainly not me
The proliferation of broadsides at the end of the 19th century were part of the destruction of the oral tradition
Actually walter only ever sang for revival audiences with the exception of one song
I've described how he wrote down his songs from having heard family members sing them and put them together with tunes he remembered after the family singers were all dead
He said he never saw a broadside and as his grandfather was so poor he and his family ended up in the workhouse, he doubted if he ever owned many broadsides - just that he had learned "some" from them
Walter had an uncanny knack of being able tto date his songs by their texts and tunes
The fact that traditional songs appeared on broadsides in no way proves (or even suggests) that they originated on them
That is what the argument is about
Jim