"Well I don't know if you're capable of debating in a tolerant manner,"
Said the feller who believes that to be old is to be senile
"rural sepia seems to have struck home"
Yup - a perfect phrase for those who hate folk song
Thanks for confirming that fact at long last Al - the dislike that dares not speak its name (here at least)
Folksong teems with life, it is populated by real people in real situations - it is the history of real people, kept alive by them for centuries and probably made by them in the first place (despite attempts by people who prefer Victorian tear-jerkers, to take that honour from them)
That's why none of you who have shown your dislike of folksong will attempt to respond to my comparison to your lifeless and disposable pap
As the (ignored by you people) Martin Carthy sums it up:
"I regard tradition as progressive, and a traditional song as a progressive force, because it is concerned with the continuity of things."

"Your angle seems to be that you are far too knowledgeable to have respect for anyone"
I've taken my arguments from a century of research by others and thirty odd years of personal research - from singing, listening and organising clubs
If I know anything, its from having read and listened to others
Unlike you, I have not resorted to insulting people (in your case Al, an entire generation)

"It doesn't interest me one way or another who agrees with them"
I've listened to your arguments carefully and (far more telling) you refusals to argue and respond - I have responded to themm all in detail
I didn't come here expecting to change minds - I'd be more successful trying to rob The Bank of England -
I came here to listen to what others have to say and, if I disagreed, I have said so - how could I not respond to people who dislike or only pay lip-service to a genre of song I have devoted my life to ?
Your arguments are insubstantial, incomplete and often personal nd unpleasant -
You haven't respond to points head on - you haven't even the good sense to respond to Martin Carthy's declaration of love for "sepia" folk song, though you all rush to pay lip service to him too
You really haven't done to well out of any of this

I am grateful for Al's refreshing honesty - if more people had admitted they didn't actually like or respect the music whose banner they march under it would have saved so much time and unpleasantness
Off now to share some of our Irish recordings with an American who cherishes our music far more than any do here
Jim