"The key here is Pardon's assertions that he did not sing the songs." (Pseudonymous 17 Nov 19 - 07:04 AM)

That does not square with what Walter told Jim

"They each had their own particular songs for these occasions. Apparently no-one wanted THE DARK EYED SAILOR so that was Walter’s song, or sometimes WHEN THE FIELDS WERE WHITE WITH DAISIES. They all knew the tunes but everybody was very protective of their own songs and did not want others to learn them. As the favourite youngster, Walter was the only one to whom Billy Gee would give his songs but none of his contemporaries wanted them anyway; they would only learn new songs as they came out." (Jim Carrol 09 Nov 19 - 05:58 AM)

By the way, I just noticed that the Carroll/Mackenzie essay that comes from was titled "A Simple Countryman?". Note the question mark.

If I understand the various writings correctly, most of the songs in Walter's repertoire came from his family, as a youngster he sang some of them (two are listed) and learned others from his uncle Billy and from the singing of his family. He then started singing them in his own style. Is that correct?