I've tried to plough through this fascinating thread but it's too much to take it all in and I'm still confused about the various versions. DT lists two versions of the lyrics, and only attributes the "Warlock Knowe" version to Burns, leaving the "curly pow" version unattributed. Someone in this thread said the Burns published a bawdy and a sanitised version of the song in different publications and at different times (the latter having nothing to do with the incident that allegedly inspired the original song); but if I understood the post correctly, the bawdy version that Burns published is far bawdier than the "curly pow" lyrics on the DT site, to the point that I doubt anyone would be able to get away with singing them in a folk club even today.

BUT the version that I have always heard sung is the "curly pow" version that DT implies is traditional and annonymous. So is this right, that Burns wrote two versions, one ridiculously bawdy and one sanitised, neither of which are sung much today: and that a third, moderately bawdy version, which was not written by Burns, is the one that has survived in the sense of being widely sung today? And if so, does the traditional, anonymous, "curly pow" version precede Burns, or did it develop after his death? Or a bit of both?