Ah Paul semantics are all....I'm sure Stokoe in saying "common" was referring to the tune and "oblivion" referred to the text. There is no evidence at all to suggest that either Bell or Stokoe "improved" the song, although many did like Scott in his "Musical Museum". Of course they may have but all I meant by "definitive" is that this is the source that revival singers, too numerous to mention, used in the '60's for songs like "Water Of Tyne" and "The Colliers Rant" etc. Anyway all I really intended was to help the person who was looking for the words at the beginning of the thread.

As for"sighing and sickly" I agree that the Dransfield's use of "troubled" rather than "sickly" will make more sense to people who do not live in the North East, as the word does have a different meaning in the context of the song. "Heart sick" may be a better way to describe it. Incidentally, I know Robin and Barry well and they, like us, never hesitated in adapting either words or tune if they felt it was required. I remember Robin introducing a song by saying, tongue in cheek, "This song is traditional. I learned it from my brother who got it from a book".