It just seems a bit of a discrepancy. In an age when we are rightfully appalled by someone referring to the mentally ill as a 'loony' - every bit as much as we are horrified in someone using the term 'nigger' - here we have nice middle class folks - Steeleye Span fans no less, singing this item - joyfully unconcernedly.

Is it really such a gem of English folksong that we should be clinging to it.