"Music as competition has never seemed like a good thing to me."
Amen to that - competitions are for winners - only the first three ever win anything

"Most "folk" songs we know seem to have been 18th or 19th century popular songs (or even 20th).
Nobody knows where most (or even a few) folk songs originated - all we know for certain is that they have been around for quite a while
Most 18th, 19th and a few early 20th century songs either sank without trace or survived only in print - most popular songs tend to have been quickly forgotten by the people (popular only for a short time)
Jim