"It may very well be that this song started out as a regional folksong."

Well maybe it is an anthem in the US Northeast perhaps particulary among a certain gender limited segment of the population ...

I've lived in several parts of the US now and noticed that modern commercial Folk music has regional quirkiness that does not translate or travel much. In the upper midwest Cities like Madison Wisconsin and Ann Arbor and the Detroit area have a certain circuit of "Stars" ... New York and Philadelphia another set that overlaps just a little with the New England crowd, Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico a different set and California a different set. A select few performers actually are known all over the country. Areas like the upper midwest and Philadelphia with strong Folk and Bluegrass influences on Public Radio tend to have a large pool of performers who generate a following. On the other hand southern California seems to be a folk music wasteland. No one I talked to outhere has heard of Pat Humphries, but the have never heard of Michael Cooney, John McCutcheon, or Art Thieme either ...other long term regional starts on the folk circuit, oh well.