Jim- we all know your trenchant & often stated views on what is a folk song. I disagree as you know.

That is irrelevant, what I'm saying is you can't even set up a competition like this without defining your terms. RTE didn't do that, so the whole thing is ridiculous.


At a singing session last night, I sang a 1910 pop song 'The Spaniard who blighted my life' which has survived in my own family and thrives among the people even after 109 years. I'm not saying it's a 'folk' song- I don't believe in such definitions but does it have any validity in the tradition in your book?