but it does not alter the feact that if the publican did not think you were drawing people in or kepping people there he would have stopped the session from his point of view he provided free beer aslong as you were popular , therefore you were providing some form of entertainment[ its not relevant whether it was intentional on your part.so you were there as long as people in his pub found you entertaining. my experience based on 30 years that in the area ofCork that i live in , i am more likely to keep people entertained if i provide a mix of songs and tuness. i think jim will back me up on that.
i also believe that varying the tempo of tunes, is important part of the entertainment, on occasions i have heard outsiders remark that they think diidley music all sounds the same, they have possibly heard wall to wall reels played for hours on end .
well to get away from that if changes of tempo and changes of key and the occasiobal song provides musical contrast and helps to keep the pub full and theaudience entertained and the landlords till happy. it may be different in cornwall or clare but that is my experience of pub music entertainment in County Cork