I know this thread is years old but I just really listened to it closely a few days ago.

I have come upon a verse with owls like this:

"The owl, the owl,
is a lonely bird
it fills my heart with dread and fear
for someone's blood is on it's wings
and someone's death is drawing near."

Makes sense to me as Owls are often seen as bringers of fate, premonitions of doom attend their wanderings.

The raven verse has a similar sense of impending doom. Ravens are messengers from the "other side".

I keep hearing the second verse as:
"I ain't no haunt (pronounced haint) nor never will be..." etc.

I guess it could be "saint".

The person singing this song seems sad and abandoned. Wishing for the peace of the grave because of their great shame at having a child out of wedlock.

We tend to forget how powerfully some social situations could affect a person's life because we allow so much in our lives that would have been taboo just a few decades ago.

Murder ballads exist in part because abortion was completely unheard of in most communities.

Murder and suicide were an answer.