I'm glad to see this song in the DT, Joan. I know Phil Thomas had an interest in tracking down congeners of this song, since harvest excursions (in the days when harvest required hundreds of men, but only for the harvest) were regularly run from the east to the prairies.

Incidentally, I'm thinking that "a' soar" is perhaps "astore" (i.e. my dear) since "colleen bawn" is also present, and there is also the Irish rhyme for "sigh" = "boy", pron. "b'y" as in "I'se the b'y".

Jon Bartlett