here is the John Barleycorn article, for TheSnail: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4522718?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=55890015643

thanks everyone. I don't feel I'm any closer to my goal, but I do feel I have a lot to explore! it's all so complex. the question of tracing the song forward vs. tracing it back has been on my mind. The reason I chose to trace it forward is just to know for sure that the song was that old, since there are a lot of songs that seem old or are supposed to be old that are actually 20th-century inventions.

I am still very interested in The Hern (John Fleagle recorded it) because the text is found in Richard Hill's book (ca 1500) but was recorded recently, which means it has survived at least in that way since then. Does anyone have any more information on this song?