"No mention as yet of the melody."

Sorry - I could have sworn I wrote
The melody is there to carry the words in our traditions
est description I know of folk tunes - "the canvas on which the singer paints his/her songs"
Works for me
Keep up Dave - I thought I was the one who didn't read what people said

"must meet the following criteria"
There's no rule Dave - that's how our songs in the folk idiom are structured - nothing to do with definition
Jim