Sorry ray - ised this
"Oh has it ~ by whom??
By the people who sang them and acrried tem through the ages - that's who
One of the great myths abot teditional singers is, because they sand all typse of song, they didn't differentiate between the different types - the songs are different and it is insulting to suggest that the singers were incapable of recognising those differences
WE spent hours talking to England's last 'large repertoire' traditional singers about how he categorised his songs
He sand all sorts but was adamant about which were folk and which weren't - he even attempted to analyse the difference musically using his Melodeon
He would have been mortified to found some of "that other old stuff" had been given a Roud number to identify it as a folk song
Blint Travelling singer, Mary Delaney, had a large repertoire of traditional songs which she referred to as 'My daddie's songs" - even though he probably knew lass than ten - she was referring to the type of song rather than its source
She had many dozens of Country and Western songs which she refused to sing for us "You don't want them old things - I only know them 'caose they're the ones the lads ask for down in the pub"
Non-literate Traveller, Mikeen McCarthy from Kerry divided his repertoire into three parts, the "street songs", he used for busking, "pub songs" which were sung in crowded pubs, often for pennies and "fireside songs" which were sund in the open air around a fireside to listeners who would give their full attention to what was being sung
Three different types of song, three different styles of singing
We got the same type of information from more-or-less every singer we talked to

The only reason not to to define a folk song is to choose not to - that has become a convenience used by people who appear not to be satisfied with the folk repertoire any more and want to give themselves an excuse to sing something else at a folk club
That is why the clubs are bombing at a rate of knots
Jim