What's with the "notorious" Kitty? Yes, I stole the line/idea from Garten Mother's lullaby – or at least I thought I had. When I first learned this song I asked a friend and he explained to me that Shiovre was an Irish fairy who sailed his boat (visible as a star) across the skies. (I think he might have been using a bit of poetic licence himself!)

A couple of years ago I was asked about the line by Jack Crawford (a wonderful singer, well worth listening to) and, now we're in the computer age, I was able to look up the references.   I found that Shiofre/Shiovre is indeed an Irish fairy but there seem to be no references to sailing across the skies (in fact the Sidhe are more likely to be found underground than in the sky) so I went back to the original line from Garten Mother's Lullaby, "Shiovre sails his boat 'til morn upon the starry bog" and I now sing "Shiovre fairy barque still steering, Cross starry bog until the dawn". (If I can't change the words of my own songs what can I change??)

As background to the song, I was driving home from a Wareham Wail. At the midnight banquet, after a highly successful theft of the pig's head, I, amongst others, had been told by the "Lord & Lady" of the feast that we'd be barred next year if we didn't behave. The words "I am the Barred" came to me and I made up the rest as I drove along – only it didn't quite turn out as expected. (I did get to sing it at the next year's feast though.)

I've put my "new" version on my Soundcloud account if anyone reads this and wonders what I'm talking about.