I was told by a Bob Hellon (sp?) who insisted he was at university when Francis McPeake was there (in the capacity of a folk source I believe) - and he reported that there was a twinkle in the McPeake eyes when this question was asked.

It has been said that the song in a shorter form existed within the family (uhu?) but it was (in the tradition of Sabine Barring-Gould) given a more Folk Club friendly length. But how the quoter knew, I know not.