In Claude Simpson's "The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music" he attributes "Cock up thy Beaver" to Thomas D'Urfey, or at least he notes that the tune was first published in D'Urfey's "Choice New Songs" in 1684, as the tune for a song called "The Horse Race." The last line of the song's refrain was "Hey brave Johnnie lad, cock up your beaver." The tune also came to be known as "Johnny, cock thy beaver" and "To Horse brave Boys."