that is I put is perfectly politely Vic,

Well, that would be a matter of opinion. I would suggest that your comment I suppose you’re left with the ‘talented singing parrots’ theory is at best meaningless and could be regarded as provocative.

You also write My point about the claimed literary origins of folk song is there for response - feel free to respond - you and Steve, that is
You know that Steve's approach is that only dated admissible evidence is worthy of discussion and that is why he has put so many hours into dating broadsides, chapbooks and other sources. You counter that by saying that even the early printed evidence cannot assure us that the songs were not in circulation before they appeared in print and that your gut feeling is that they originated with 'the people' (though that term is never defined satisfactorily.)
Because of the lack of evidence, it becomes an argument for argument's sake, becomes heated and has ruined many threads on this forum.