Not invariably. For some reason the song's having something of a vogue at the moment; Rachel Unthank and James Yorkston both do versions. Hers is raucous and angry-sounding (you wouldn't want to be Mickey when she got home), while his is quiet and woozily melancholy, not so much blue-bleezin' as walking-into-the-doorpost-and-falling-over blind drunk.

I agree with you about the actual song - taken straight, i.e. played for laughs, it is a sad, nasty little song. But interpretation can make a big difference. John Kelly does something similar to "Sam Hall", turning a bloodcurdling music-hall belter into something genuinely moving.