One of the two Irish versions
THe 'whistling' chorus is related to the belief that it was possible to call up the Devil by whistling -
Jim Caarroll

7. THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE (Child 278), sung by Thomas Moran, Mohill, Co. Leitrim; recorded by Seamus Ennis {BBC Sound Archive).

The motif of the curst wife who was a terror to demons runs through Oriental and European folklore, and it still provokes the laughter of modern audiences. [No ballad has been found in better form and with more engaging tunes in American tradition, and it is still much sung in Britain as well. I suspect that the prudish sexual attitudes of the 19th century had much to do with a recent increase in its popularity, for it appeared on London broadsides during this period and at the same time spread west with the pioneers .] Both men and women enjoy it. It reminds women of the strength of their spiteful anger, if once aroused. For men it conforms to an old and bitter proverb, "There are two places a man wants his wife - in bed, and in the grave." [I have been told that the ballad was once sung in the Southern Mountains to silence shrewish wives, the women half-believing that the story might be true – that the devil might come for them if they turned too mean.] Probably the song embodies a fragment of an old folk tale theme, in which a man agrees to give the devil a member of his family for some service. Robert Burns re-wrote a version called "Kellyburn Braes".

References:
Bell BSP, pp. 204-5; Williams, p. 211; Greig LL, p. 220; Hayward, pp. 33-5; Hammond/Gardiner, p. 24; [P. Barry, British Ballads From Maine, p. 332; Coffin, 148; Guide, 66.]

1. I know an old couple that lives near hell,
(Whistles)
And if they didn't leave it they're living there still,
With me whack-fol-dye-fol-iggiddy-fol-the-dol-ee.

2. The devil he came to the man at the plough.
Saying, "I've come for some of your family now."

3. "Oh, which of me family do you like best?"
"Oh, your scolding wife, it is her I like best."

4. "Take her away with all me heart.
And that you and her may never come back."

5. He got this old woman right up on his back,
And a pedlar was never more proud of his pack.

6. He carried her on to a heap of stones,
And he left her down there and he stamped on her bones.

7. He carried her on till he came to Hook Hill,
And she cried as much tears as would turn a mill.

8. He carried her on till he came to Hell's wall,
And she up with her fist and flattened them all.

9. Eight little devils come down, to put her into a sack,
And she up with her critch and broke nine of their backs.

10. The devil was looking across the wall,
Oh, sayin', "Take her away or she'll murder us all."

11. She was seven years goin' and seven more comin' back.
And she's called for the scrapings she left in the pot.