The issue I have with it being all about the "story" is foreign language songs. I have enjoyed many Russian songs for instance but I lost that language when I started school so, apart from a few words, I don't understand what they are saying. Are they not folk songs? Of course they are. I also enjoy instrumental music. Are Morris dance tunes not folk music either? The sung or spoken word in English is only part of it. Take "The carnival is over" by the Seekers for instance. It is based on the Russian Folk song "Stenka Rasin" . Or Elvis Presley's "Wooden Heart" which uses German folk tune "Muss i denn". The music and genres are all inexorably linked and impossible to categorise exactly. In my opinion.