You know that, and I know that, and just about most Mudcatters know that, GUEST.

First time I heard it (by June Tabor) I felt a chill. The next time (by the late, great Alex Campbell) there was a silence when the song finished that was almost tangible.

That was long ago, and many of us feel a moratorium should be declared. Once the Hibernians got hold of it, changed the title and adopted it on the basis that "Willie McBride" must have been Irish (why not Scottish?), the downhill slide began. Now it can cast a blight on a singaround from the mere introduction, and the only acceptable version is a parody.

A sad fate for a once-powerful song, sadder yet for the writer, Eric Bogle, who probably hasn't even had the compensation of receiving vast wodges of Performing Rights fees. "It's Traditional Irish, isn't it?"