In the culture in which I grew up, Show Me The Way To Go Home was considered a folk song. Indeed, its melody is likely to be an English or Irish folk tune. My family sang it in this spirit, with little care for accuracy of words or—depending on who was singing—pitch.
When I began this project in 2007–8, I therefore consulted online commentators (I confess: Wikipedia) and found my original suspicions confirmed: the song as a whole was considered as folk. I felt this gave me carte blanche to continue working, happy and carefree.
