I learned this little ditty in the fifth grade, which would have been in 1950. It was in a standard school songbook at the time. We were told that "John Peel" was the sobriquet of the huntsman with his hounds, leading the gentry on a fox hunt. The chorus was approximately as follows:

"D'ye ken John Peel at the break of day?
D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay?
D'ye ken John Peel, when he's far, far away,
With his hounds and his horse in the morning."

More, I cannot verify. The use of the word "ken" certainly leads toward the likely Scots origin.