Greetings. Some months ago I started searching for and collecting traditional, and especially Irish, songs with some reference to Spain. It's amazing there are so many. Some times they make reference to Spain, some times 'Spain' is simply a great rhyme for 'main', 'pain', etc. "Clare's Dragoon", "Spanish Ladies", "The Spanish Lady", "Banks of Claudy", or the useful "Spanish leather" in all Black Jack David/Gypsy Rover versions.
Then, an idea struck me that perhaps I was not the first one to notice this. My questions to mudcatters is that: does anybody here know of any work, book or study about the Spanish influence on Irish traditional songs? It would be shame to investigate on this for years before someone tells me there's already an encyclopaedia on the matter...
Thank you very much.

Adolfo