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editWe are dismayed by the number of songs in this category which have been taken verbatim from the database of GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador, the largest free on-line archive of songs of this genre at: http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/ ...
One of the goals of GEST has always been to display and credit lyrics with exacting detail, including punctuation and spelling not found in more common sources. If editors at Wikipedia had the time to make comparisons along those lines, it could readily be seen that someone is copying and pasting songs directly from the GEST site when it would be more appropriate to link to the source as was done with "The Hockey Song" by Stompin' Tom Connors.
More importantly, however, is the potential for copyright infringement. For example, the lyrics herein to "Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor" is a specific variant by a popular trio whose lyrics are unique for this song. Wikipedia has no way of recognizing this fact, and is accepting contributed lyrics as traditional when the very essence of folk music is change. When a particular artist copyrights an arrangement, even of a traditional song, that arrangement is copyright.
In our opinion, full printed song lyrics have no place in Wikipedia and all of them should be removed.
GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador