Duncan Williamson sings a pretty old version of 'Sweet William's Ghost' which retains all the supernatural elements. Hamish Henderson recorded a later version he called 'The Night Visiting Song' at Blairgowrie in Perthshire (he was accompanied by Kenneth Goldstein) in the the mid 1950s. This version has lost most of the supernatural stuff but still retains the reference to leaving before the cock crows. An even later version to a more 'up-beat' tune has very similar words to the Blairgowrie one but only a passing reference to the cock ("the cocks were crowing, the birds were whistling")- this version is called 'I'm a Rover' and is just basically a drinking song (or maybe a wishful thinking song). Duncan's version can be found on a cassette caled 'Put Another Log on the Fire'and the other two on CDs by me - 'Half Ower Half Ower tae Aberdour' on the Tradition Bearers label and 'O Lassie, Lassie' on Greentrax.

Jack