G'day Zander,

About 20 posts above this, The Shambles, in the first reply, posted a link called (and presumably to a version of) Jock Stewart. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the link to work on either computer that I use for Mudcat!

That said, the old Irish versions are not about Jock Stewart - they are about Irish emigrant workers. This is folk music ...How old are they? ... How old is the Jock Stewart version? (Interestingly, the song usually goes to a tune generally thought of as Irish ... but where does a good tune come from?)

BTW: I just checked the Digital Tradition database above and it has a version of Jock Stewart ... and this message at the end:

The song is an Irish narrative ballad that has been shortened to an Aberdeenshire drinking song. It is essentially Jeannie Robertson's version, slightly modified by Archie Fisher in the third verse so the dog doesn't get shot. It is alternatively claimed by the Singing Stewarts to have been written for Bell's father.

I have been looking closely at the various versions of Man you don't Meet Every Day and they are diffuse. Any simple answer (particularly in folk music) should be suspected on first principles.

Regards,

Bob Bolton