I see Kate Rusby sings this song on her latest CD and it irritates me just as much as when anyone else sings it because it doesn't rhyme!

Oh, the summer-time has come (or is coming)
And the trees are sweetly blooming,
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather;

As far as poetry goes, that's pure McGonnagle. And yet it's what everyone sings. But I'm sure I remember, once, in the Three Cranes in Sheffield, a well respected singer finishing the evening with it. A lot of people did in those days (I'm going back a bit). Of course, as soon as he'd got the first 3 words out, everyone joined in. But at the end of the first verse he stopped the song and made us sing it again like this:

Oh, the summer-time has come
And the trees are sweetly blooming,
And the wild mountain thyme
All the ******** is perfuming;

I can't remember what the third word was; it could have been mountain or hillside even valley but it rhymes! What's more, it makes sense whereas the common version is almost gobbledegook.

Does anyone else recollect a version that makes sense? There's another song that irritates me for the same reason but I can't remember what it is for the moment. As Dave Eyre says, blame it on the wine.