Is the tune related in any way to 'The Red Haired Man's Wife'? It looks as if the song might possibly be based on that.

I'd forgotten the Folktrax archive had been restored online: Peter Kennedy's notes for the Folktrax cassette Slieve Gallon Brae - Voices Raised in Ulster - FTX 435 state that Frank Card learned this, and another song 'Moira Ni Kelly', from his grandmother Mary Waits of Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. Both were recorded by Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle from Frank Card in Belfast on 18 Aug 1953 on BBC RPL 19359.

Steve Roud's index lists this song as No. 9651, and 'Moira Ni Kelly' as No. 9710. There are no other entries for either song in the Roud Index.

I don't know quite how to interpret the song, but I wonder if Frank Card is the same Proinsias MacAirt who was active in the Troubles?

Matthew