RE - What Amos said, above...*...There are plenty of shallow songs as well, both sad and joyful. For example, the 19th century produced hundreds of wussy parlor tunes which have been forgotten today because their sentiments were vapid or meretricious.*

I have a great old songbook from the 19th century, "The World's Sweetest Love Songs," and I sometimes work on some of the sap-happy stuff, like 'I Love My Love,' (music by Ciro Pinsuti, words by Mackay). Some would maybe be considered more classical than folk, but I don't really see a big difference all the time.

For some reason, I kind of like those strange little sappy songs!