A truely fascinating and informative thread on one of my favourite ballads. At the risk of showing my total ignorance, I would just like to add one consideration on the symbolism of "at the dawning of the day".

A number of posts have seen this as an optimistic note - a pointer to a new beginning or rebirth. I have an alternative reading which is more in seeing the dawning of the day as the end/death of the night. That is to say the end of the magical dark hours where drinking, dancing, carousing and the ever-titillating possibility of ending up in a clinch with the object of your affections has been and gone, now replaced by the cold light of reality and the necessity of shambling back to your lodgings (or a coffeehouse for the full pig breakfast, money allowing). Whether relevant or not, one can't help but be reminded of the pre-Christian celtic practice in measuring the passing of time by nights rather than days (hence fortnight for e.g.).

Also, though this surely cannot be relevant, the mention of "the gods of sound and stone" brings to mind a mind-boggling TV documentary I saw a few years back on some fella had accidentally discovered acoustic properties to stone circles and other neolithic monuments like Newgrange etc. I can certainly attest to the acoustic "amplifier" effects of Stonehenge from summer solstices past.