I always loved that Danny Kaye routine. Liz, that's "Carrickfergus" and yes, he does keep going after he says he'll sing no more 'till he gets a drink. Perhaps someone slipped him a quick swig between verses. But "The Water is Wide" does have a peculiar metaphor I reckon. She (and it's always she who sings it) says:

"I put my hand into the bush
Thinking the sweetest flower to find
But I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the sweetest flower alone." (so lovely, so sad!)

But it sounds like a bloke thing to do I've always thought.