Ron: You are absolutely right. I don't know if we can be certain Child "wasn't interested" in collecting the tunes, but by and large he didn't do it. So yes, many of the current versions of Child ballads use melodies only put to them fairly recently. You must certainly find time to read through that first Volume, though!

I hope no-one thinks I was being disparaging about Steeleye earlier: it is precisely because they were able to link traditional music to modern presentation that many people were introduced to folk. I still listen to Maddy Prior a lot and some of her work with the Carnival Band is amazing (and some passes me by, to be honest).

I remember hearing the Topic recordings of Child Ballads when I was 18 or so and being absolutely certain that was the immediate source for some of the tracks on the early Steeleye.