I love that map of Ireland on profs site which I've just visited for the first time, (and it's grand).,

Click on Tipp for Polkas and Derry for Songs. No logic to it, but it's a bit more fun than a normal old list.

But I also went back to the old thread that Wolfgag gave us a link to - and that ended with Martin Ryan speculating that it dated from "The Emergency" (which everyone else called World War II), from soldiers in camps in the Republic, where they were getting ready in case England or Germany decided to invade. He said he'd try to find out.

I'd always assumed it was much later, but only because I'd never heard it before the 70s. Any info from anybody?