> BGW could be sung to any of those with the 4444 metre.

So ytue.

But it isn't. It's sung primarily to only three, the others being unique occurrences in the record. (The actual distribution of tunes among singers is unknown, but it would be startling to discover that "Old 100th," "St. Bees," and later "Froggie/Crawdad" were not the "usual" tunes.

I wonder if women have no hate-filled folksongs about men because there's no "lady-like code" that prevents them from being as outspoken against men as they like whenever they like. Men, on the other hand, used to have a "gentleman's code" (as well as a stoic one) that inhibited them from blaming women (other than Eve, in certain professional circles) for their and the world's ills.

Thus the men need an outlet in songs and jokes directed against the opposite sex and the women don't.

Just another hypothesis.

BTW, the proportion of clearly misogynist folksongs to all folksongs seems to be minuscule.