Steve wrote,'You've been reading too many of Norman Iles' books, me old cock robin!'

Actually I haven't Steve, but you seem to be coming down on the side of 'there's absolutely no use of symbolic language in folksong' Which patently isn't true. Of course Iles -overeggs the pudding' but that doesn't mean to say such things aren't used and alluded to continuously. I wasn't referring to sexual connections, you'll notice that most of the images are to death. Incidentally, the herbs, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme all have similar symbolic references which extend far beyond the Victorian 'Language of Flowers ' guff.
Cheers