I have thought about this for a long time. Traditional music has recorded historical and personal events down through the ages. But can we consider these to be an accurate picture? Consider songs about lovers killing their sweethearts. Did it happen so often or do we have a few instances told and retold? Consider all the songs about female sailors. Were there many of them or was it a fantasy repeated by sailors down through the centuries? What about songs of battles and heroes? Are we seeing the event as viewed through contemporary eyes (i.e., to the battle)?

I'd like to hear specific examples cited and your opinion of where they came from and who might have told the story in song. Was there really a Golden Vanity where the cabin boy was drowned by the captain? What might have been the true story there? How about the Handsome Cabin Boy? Who was Stormalong? Did Johnny Copes really run away? Who recorded that incident?

You get the idea...