This is my note from the Musical Traditions CD 'Here's Luck to a Man...Gypsy Songs and Music from South-East England' (MTCD320):

Although assigned the number 'Child 65' by most collectors, Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger have pointed out that it is, 'made up of floater-verses from a number of ballads and yet does not appear to be derived from any particular one'. MacColl & Seeger have identified lines from at least ten Child ballads. These are: Lady Maisry (Child 65), Lord Lovel (Child 75), Little Musgrave (Child 81), The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter (Child 110), Child Maurice (Child 83), Fair Mary of Wallington (Child 91), Bonny Barbara Allen (Child 84), Fair Margaret and Sweet William (Child 74), The Gypsy Laddie (Child 200) and Geordie (Child 209). They conclude with the comment, 'What does stand out, and make this song unique, is that a whole series of ballad formulas have been selected and put together in a form which has remained stable'. See Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland by MacColl & Seeger, London, 1977, pp.112-15.