Quote from Christy Moore's songbook/autobiography "One Voice":

...Mick McGuane was a punk whistle player before Johnny Lydon had hair, and he used to sing a verse about `dancehalls and cinemas' which I cannot find. Anne Mulqueen used to sing it in a Sean Nos style while Andy Rynne used to do a right job of it in the back of O'Donohue's or in Pat Dowling's of a Wednesday night. But don't go looking there for the magic, it has flown on the wind to calmer quarters...

Christy also states "Author unknown".

Cheers,
Michael