Mike's posting was really interesting. It really gives the song a fascinating historical perspective. And in a strange way it gives a perspective on our parents' relationships. And the way they saw them.

It was well worth two hundred posts of relative tripe to come up with a jewel like that. Most of the nonsense was because we were imposing our views on a song from a bygone age.

You know what Alan Bennet says about John Betjeman on archictecture -he could interpret that remotest of periods - the recent past. Well you did something similar Mike - well done!

It makes you realise the layers of misunderstanding which must accumulate over a three hundred year old folk song. And in truth why that stuff feels 'wrong' to an awful lot of people.