I gots to thinking about some of the comments in the Corries thread and I got to thinking and thinking and thinking...and I came back to the age old argument about what the heck is "Folk" Music. Seems to me that folk music is to be enjoyed by both the performer and the audience. An interactive pastime that serves to entertain and inform people. Or to express an opinion (it seems since the advent of the 'protest'songs of the fifties). People often point to Woody Guthrie as a social commentarist in his songs, but even so his songs were to entertain at the same time. I have a terror of those performers that construct these wonderfully intricate performances and, write cutting, pithy songs just to demonstrate how bloody clever they are. ( Daymn gotta rein in the cuss words).

Anyway, I actually don't give a rat's a** about how bloody marvelous the singer or musician thinks they are ( and this isn't just restricted to folk music people), and to be quite honest ( I don't wish to offend the people out there that research these things, I personally think it's fascinating) I don't want to know how many versions of the song they are or the metaphores (sic) that may be contained in the third verse of 'She Moves Through The Fair', the forum is a good place for that, the stage or club isn't, I wanna be moved by the song, or the tune. I want to feel how much that song means to a performer through the performance and not through a ten minute preamble, and some times I just want to join in the chorus and have a bloody good singalong and share an emotion. Or hear a story in ryhme and with a melody.

There you go, I have probably set myself up here for a tongue lashing...but I'm a man, I can take it...hey katlaughing what are you doing with that knife in your hand...shambles, put that chair leg down...I didn't mean it...no..no....aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!*