ABSTRACT
The song presents a sort of disrupted narrative. It leaps from one situation, one image to another, mostly via the pivotal, purposely ambiguous verse-ending words. In the post-war period, many platforms were created for singers whose previous experience of performing had been their home or the pub, but were now to be seen from time to time in folk clubs, at festivals and occasionally in the Albert Hall. The term 'tradition' and the category 'traditional singer' are highly emotive in some folk song circles. Judging whether a person is a traditional singer or not is similar to deciding whether a song is a folk song or not. The categories are heavily invested with connotations that always derive from notions of authenticity. Both the Victorian–Edwardian and the post-1945 folk revivals have become extremely engaged with authenticity. Authenticity is not any sort of absolute state.
