G'day Calach,

I don't hold any version to be from the hand of God. Quite a lot od singers - and book editors - would do the same if they did not have a single coherent version they liked. In the context of performance that is only an acceleration of the 'folk process'.

I reckon the result looks fairly consistent and, if you can identify with it, you will probably do a good job. Perhaps it would be nice to make the reworking clear in a scholarly setting ... but probably not when you are on stage.

My real worry was about the different song, headed Wild Young Irish Boy in the Digital Tradition. This has borrowings from at least six traditional sources that I can recognize, no coherence, scores of inconsistencies and anachronisms, is one and a half times longer than any modern audience will sit through and isn't much of a song!

(Oh, BTW: I don't like it.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton