I can't even countenance listening to the Chumbawumba version. However as a fan of Norcsalordie I do need to make a point here.
The boys don't sing songs as the purists want them sung. They sing songs with enthusiasm ! If everybody sang exactly the same version at the same pace (slowly), we'd all be slitting our wrists, and there'd be no-one to go to folk clubs.There is room in the world of folk music for us all to sing songs in the manner that we feel suits them. Norcs cite the speed of the loom as justification. Having heard a machine loom going at full tilt on the Radio Ballads Programme and several programmes on the History Channel, I can understand where they're coming from. Also, did they not have to be fast because they were on piecework?