The other point is that a song may not necessarily be written "to deceive" people into thinking it's traditional. Some singers come up with a song that sounds the part, but it may be that singer's take on a pop song. Martin Carthy has been doing this recently. De Danann did some Beatles tunes and the result was pretty folky.

Many a person may never have heard of Ewan McColl, but may have heard Ewan McColl's songs, and sung a version of them, changing them to fit their own memory of how it went or some new circumstance. The song is, arguably, no longer McColl's because oral transmission has taken over.

In another thread, there were the lyrics of "Annan Water". That's quite clearly taken on a life of its own outside of the words written by Sir Walter Scott. I've heard the song over the years, but never realised the Scott connection.

Similarly with "Now Westlin' Winds", which I found out later was a Burns lyric. However, I've heard different people sing it, tweaking the lyrics to their own requirements. Is there, then, a "real" text and the others are merely "mistakes"?

Many of the collectors report their informants' comments about a song being as old as the hills, before coming out with something that was clearly drawn from the music hall. The point is, the informant hadn't necessarily heard it there - probably hadn't, in fact. The informant had picked it up from somebody else's singing, and no doubt with some changes too.

There was a sleevenote with a Planxty album some years ago, and I think Christy Moore made a reference to a "field trip" - through somebody else's record collection. If we hear it, like it and sing it, we probably don't reproduce exactly what we heard. Is this not just an up-to-date oral tradition?

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob