Bless you, but I will confess, none of these actually use the phrase "lang a growin'". Does anyone know the path this song has taken through the ages as well as the archives here? (as I know not the mysterious workings of the headaches of DB entries of folk lyrics... :)

One would be inclined to think that Burns' version (Lady Mary Ann) is the original, and "Bonny Boy" would be the much more generic version (a little lighter on the imagery, a little more storylike), and overall is a pretty darn close second for the versions I'd heard before, but I'm curious where the phrase "long 'agrowin" was either added by Misters MaColl and Dylan, or omitted.

Any clues for an amateur musicologist?