Stewart -- thanks so much for posting the link to the older tune. It may be superior to James Waters'.

What strikes me as significant is that all the later versions leave out the most important part: the mother's husband, after shooting the seal(s), brings back to her the gold chain the silkie gave her, which she put around her son's neck -- which is how she knows that her son is dead.

Why, do you think, is that verse omitted, when it would add so much to the story's clarity and poignancy?

Cheers,
Michael