The Folktrax reference is explained in Roud: "Williams #674" is Alfred Williams MS No.Mi.674 (Bathe/Clissold Index). The first line is given as "It's a poor old man of sixty and his wife of sixty-two" ... that's all. There isn't a Roud number because he hadn't seen the MS example itself. Williams didn't collect any tunes.

It's possible that it's a version of a song listed at Roud 13679, You never know what time may bring to you ("A poor old man of seventy and his wife of sixty-two"...). Only two texts in the index (I haven't seen the new version just out, yet): a single verse noted by Steve Roud himself in 1982, and a two-verse fragment recorded by Gwilym Davies and Paul Burgess from Wiggy Smith, who had it from his grandfather, Nathaniel "Nattie" Smith. That one is available on Band of Gold (Musical Traditions MT CD 307, 2000) as Hobbling off to the Workhouse Door, and goes as follows:

There's a dear old man of seventy
Dear old woman of seventy-two
And they're hobbling off to the workhouse door
Because they're low and poor.

"Now you think yourself above we, son
Because you have some gold
But you'll never know what time
Will always bring you to."


And that's all I can tell you. Perhaps our guest could help by saying just a few words?