When your Substitute Scribe asked Mike, who had just sung The Redland Green Bobby [
British Bobby], to confirm his view that it was "One of
Fred's", little did he realise that the question would develop into one of those half-hour ‘workshop’ discussions for which The Dragon is (in)famous – in this case on the question of Folk Music, Copyright and Attributing Songs to the Correct Writer. The conversation passed, anecdotally and polemically, through such writers as Mr Wedlock,
Cyril Tawney,
Roger Watson, Canadian guitarist
Vera Johnson,
Ed Pickford,
Michael Starkey and
Woody Guthrie, whose copyright notice is referenced in the title above viz. "This song is copyrighted in U.S. for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singing it without my permission, will be a mighty good friend of mine, 'cause that's what I wrote it for."
