Although this is a discussion of English folk songs, I must respond to ClaireBear's assertion that there is "nary a John Barleycorn" to be found in America. Helen Hartness Flanders (in The New Green Mountain Songster) records a fragment from Springfield, Vermont, taken down in 1935. Ian Robb and Margaret Christl also sing a Canadian version on "The Barley Grain for Me". (I take American to mean North American in this instance.)