Hi. Sorry about the double post above. I thought my first attempt at posting had gone wrong.

Folkiedave, I agree with you that "Hey the gay and grinding" is mostly a fol de rol. (or, fol de riddle, as you say.) Still, the words had some meaning at one time. But probably not much.

There is a serie of detective stories that I like by Alan Hunter. On weekends, his chief character, the Great Panjandrum George Gently, likes to go with his wife to seek butterflies along the Thames east of London. So there's the gay part in modern terms.

[I ask myself what was his title exactly? Superintendent? Detective Chief? Detective Inspector? Gently once interviewed an Englishwoman who had been living in Germany, and he noted that she knew and spoke his title exactly after one meeting. I'm an American, and I couldn't tell you his title after reading several books. I realized that my attitude was that he probably got his title based on good looks and happenstance, and it didn't really mean anything.

But then I come from a long line of socialists.]

If anybody reading this loves nature or science, they should check out Google Earth, which is a free program which shows aerial views on your home computer. Google Earth reveals at least one small, winding stream entering the Thames estuary which also could have been the scene for this song.