On the face of it this song is a straightforward story of a bit of night-time hanky panky between two lovers with the young man departing in the early hours before they can be discovered. As with many folk songs and stories however, there is more here than meets the eye.
There are numerous versions of this song throughout the English speaking world and some of them give a fuller account which reveals intriguing details. Such versions start out in much the same way with a night time visit from the young man but as the story progresses it is revealed that the visitor is the young man’s ghost. Unbeknown to the young woman her lover has died (exactly how is not mentioned). Close on the heels of this terrible revelation a cock crows in the distance even though it is not yet dawn. The lover now has to leave immediately since, according to folklore, the spirits of the dead must return to the underworld at dawn and the signal for dawn is, of course, the crowing of the cock.
The song sung here ends with the lover having to leave with the crowing of a cock, suggesting that the supernatural aspects of the song were once part of this version too but have been lost along the way as the song was passed around.
There are numerous versions of this song throughout the English speaking world and some of them give a fuller account which reveals intriguing details. Such versions start out in much the same way with a night time visit from the young man but as the story progresses it is revealed that the visitor is the young man’s ghost. Unbeknown to the young woman her lover has died (exactly how is not mentioned). Close on the heels of this terrible revelation a cock crows in the distance even though it is not yet dawn. The lover now has to leave immediately since, according to folklore, the spirits of the dead must return to the underworld at dawn and the signal for dawn is, of course, the crowing of the cock.
The song sung here ends with the lover having to leave with the crowing of a cock, suggesting that the supernatural aspects of the song were once part of this version too but have been lost along the way as the song was passed around.