There's quite a lot of songs about young girls being forcibly married to old men and, as far as I can remember, Peta said she learned that one from the landlady of a pub in Ireland (Kerry, I think).

It's not a very commmon song at all, and the only other version I can bring to mind is one which Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen used to sing as 'The Moon Shined On My Bed Last Night'. Indeed, Steve Roud's Folksong Index has just seven entries for this song, all of them from Jeannie.

Even so I'm pretty certain it's Irish and there may be a lot more Irish versions out there. Steve himself will tell you that his index is nothing like as comprehensive, regarding Irish sources, as it should be.

Why do I think it's Irish? Well, it's partly because of the tune and partly because of the song's subject matter. In Ireland, up until fairly recently, economic circumstances encouraged arranged marriages between young girls and older men - often much older men, who had had to delay marrying until they inherited the family farm.

I don't know of any recent work which has been done on this phenomenon, but Arensberg & Kimball's study, Family and community in Ireland is still regarded as authoritive. Also, IIRC, Arensberg, The Irish Countryman has something to say on the subject.