"the Old Cock Crows" is certainly related to the "Country Life" song recorded by the Watersons, but the verses are quite different. The Traditional Ballad Index lists it as a second song under the title "Country Life":

Country Life (II), The

DESCRIPTION: "Behold in me a farmer's son so jolly." The singer tells what he likes about farming: fields and flowers, birds singing, "milking the old dun cow," hearing the cock crow early, his Mary, ... "I do not like a city life." "A country life's the best"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Greig)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(North))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #169, p. 2, "The Country Life" (1 text)
Palmer-ECS, #20, "The Old Cock Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6297
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Life (I)" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "A Sweet Country Life" (theme)
NOTES: The chorus is close to "The Country Life" (I) but this song has no seasonal verses. Each verse of "The Country Life" (I) is a variation on "rambling in the new-mown hay," which appears here only in the chorus. Greig says it "seems to hail from the south." - BS
Last updated in version 3.7
File: Grg169b

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2015 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.