I don't know the Karen James song, but the last verse Mark refers to above reminds one of the Child ballad of "The Grey Cock" (#248?). There are a couple of versions in the DT. I collected an Appalachian version called "Pretty Crowing Chicken" from Hattie Presnell on Beech Mountain in North Carolina (not far from Catspaw's Boone stomping grounds!). Hattie's last verse was:
"My old true love, my sweet turtle dove, When will I see you again?" "When the sun and the moon meet in yonders glen, And the sky it shall shed no more rain, rain, rain, And the sky it shall shed no more rain."
The version makes it quite clear that her old true love was a ghost who had to return to his grave before the cock crowed for day. Hattie can be heard singing the ballad on Volume 1 of my Traditional Music of Beech Mountain custom cassettes.
Sandy
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