The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #165660   Message #3976458
Posted By: Jack Campin
13-Feb-19 - 03:39 AM
Thread Name: UK 60s Folk Club Boom?
Subject: RE: UK 60s Folk Club Boom?
The fact that a song was collected from an illiterate in the late 20th century is no evidence at all that it was handed down orally for centuries. Illiterate people know people who can read song texts and staff notation. In the case of notation for instrumental dance tunes, this is a stone cold cert and it's often dead easy to work out which printed editions were involved in the chain of transmission that led to a specific performance learned by ear.