"Every state of academia debates it."
Where Al
Nobody debates it - if that's not true, give me examples
One of the great failures of the folk song revival is its failure to catch the attention or the interest of the general public - we are a few tadpoles swimming around in a small, self created piss-pot
If it was being debated that would be an indication that the scene was a healthy one
At one time we had a steadily rising number of clubs and supporters - now dwindled to a trickle of elderly hangers-on
Sociologists have largely failed to recognise folk song as being an important aspect of working class life, certainly on this side of the pond
The have not taken folk song seriously because those involved have failed to do so - your - 'singing horse' definition has helped with that largely, now it stands to drive the nails into the coffin of a rapidly fading genre
Show me where folk song is being debated Al - I really would love to be part of that

Over the last two plus decades Pat and I have given talks in four Universities and several colleges
Each time we have come away with the feeling that we are ploughing new ground when we try to put our songs and tales into a social context - In the main, people fave never really been interested in what 'the folk' think about their songs and stories - certainly not enough to ask them in any detail
A few have - Lomax did some tremendous work; so did Mike Yates (go read some of his articles on the Musical Traditions' site
There has been a hostile takeover of the term 'folk' on the club scene, largely by people who neither line nor understand folk song and wish to use 'folk' for their own unidentifiable genres (they don't even have a consensus among themselves)
That is, to my mind, a betrayal of one of our most important cultural and artistic forms
A crying shame - I say
I'm glad the Irish scene has had the sense to build a future for its folk arts by first laying firm foundations
Jim