I'm amazed that "Greensleeves" and "Danny Boy" are on people's lists. In my opinion, those are two of the best tunes ever "written" in the insular part of Europe. I can't imagine a life in which I would hear the Londonderry Air too often, but I guess overexposure will kill one's pleasure in anything.

TFT writes: What about that song with the "gospel makers" that you have to sit through while people expound on who "the rivals" were?

It's called "Green Grow the Rushes O" and it not only brings me pleasant memories of a summer camp, it's also quoted in THE GREATEST NOVEL EVER (okay, my favorite American fantasy novel of the '80s): _Little, Big_ by John Crowley.

Canadian, eh? writes: Have the non-Canadians among this group been overexposed to Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", or did the CBC save that just for us?

Oh God.

I actually like the tune of "MacArthur Park", and the poetically overambitious lyrics make a nice change from the deadly underambitious lyrics of many pop (and folk and folk-rock) songs. (I am not speaking of heavy metal or progressive rock here. And I'm not for a moment defending Richard Harris's and Donna Summers's versions.)

When I used to get chances to hear great sopranos, both Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman performed the same de-folked arrangement of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". I would be willing to ditch this song from the diva repertoire.

People find it hard to believe that I don't remember ever hearing "The Wedding Song". Now I'm in no hurry to.

Be careful before throwing out "Michael Row the Boat Ashore". There are many worse things for kids to do on long car or bus trips.