This was a reader's competition that appeared in the Oct.-Dec. 1984 edition of The Southern Rag (No. 22), an English folk music magazine that later changed its name to Folk Roots.
The competition was "to encapsulate a famous folk song in as tasteless a manner as you could manage", in the style of English tabloid newspapers such as The Sun.
The winner is from Jimmy Thomson of Nairobi, Kenya:
The Famous Flower of Serving Men
Two stories in one from Greg Byrne of Lexington, Kentucky:
The Great Silkie (Catherine Side, Lexington, Kentucky):
Davey Lowston (Nick Beale, Exeter):
Poor Old Horse (Nick Beale, Exeter):
I think the next one from Mick Tems is supposed to be The Bush of Australia:
The Coal Owner and the Pitman's Wife (Peter Dawson, Swansea):
(I think Macgregor was one of Margaret Thatcher's cabinet ministers during the coal strike. Perhaps some British person with a long memory can provide more information.)
Sheath and Knife (Chris Ridley, Cornwall):
Sovay, Sovay (Nick and Fiona Jenkins):
The Little Drummer Girl (Jimmy Thomson, Nairobi, Kenya):
Note: English tabloids generally feature pictures of topless women on page 3.
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