Thanks Masato and Margret. So it's a folksong then. How old?

For Margret:
I got the recording from Malcolm (J) Turnbull whom you recently caught up with in Tas (he's written a page for my CD booklet and sings on a track as well). You and I both sang at Emerald Hill, though not on the same dates. "Lakeman" is my Mudcat name. You'll see my photo in Trad&Now in Malcolm's article about the early days, I forget which edition. I'm the kid down the bottom left hand page with the caption "DH c.1963".