It's tangential, but this thread reminds me of Frank MacDonald's lyric:

Oh, the Margaree salmon have come home from the sea
But the woman I loved never came home to me
In your travels, my friend,
Did you happen to see
A woman who's lonely for the blue Margaree?

...going back to the line about Cape Breton and mittens, I'm sure I've heard something like that as a verse for "Herring and Potatoes." Which I'm sure has a spiritual connection to "Tatties and Herring."