I really don't have that much information to give you. I learned it from Tom Lenihan who lives near Miltown, Co. Clare.

Tommy Munnelly, who works for Comhairle Bhealoideas Eirieann (Irish Folklore Commision) put out a collection of his songs in a audio-cassette/book format. If you want to try and get a copy, either on loan through your public library, or to buy, the ISBN is 0906426162. The Commision is attached to University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4.

One last point, Tom Munnelly, who himself lives in Miltown, a very nice guy and and renouned expert wrote that a man, Henry Glassie wrote, "Passing the Time, folklore and history in an Ulster community." {O'Brien Press, Dublin, 1982) and this song appears in Glassie's text.

My own and Tommy's view is that, from the language, it might have originated in America. There doesn't seem to be a record of a ballad sheet or broadside, but it must have been popular enough in the last century for it to have survived today.