I've spent most of the day researching this song, it's origins, variants etc. I first heard the Dave Alvin version ("Blakjack David") and thought I might sing it at a SCA event because it sounded sort of petiod-ish and has a romantic theme. I like how his version makes it uncertain whether David and the lady will make love together on the "cold cold ground" or will join in a mutual suicide pact or a killed by her husband. This song is a facinating textbook example of how a universal theme can be turned into a song with local pesons of fact, fiction, history, and legend, and then changes as it is passed down from hand to hand, culture to culture.