I've had a look at WILD YOUNG IRISH BOY - and I strongly suspect it's intended as in-joke song, for folkies, with the joke lying in recognising the numerous songs that are being plundered, and also in the sheer inordinate length of the song. Just when you think it's finished, it lurches off into another length of saga.

Sung in an exaggeratedly stylised way in a song-circle of people who knew all the old songs, it could be quite fun too. But not many audiences could take it, and not that many singers could carry it off.