G'day Joe,

You are right. I was paying more attention to the Caroline & Sandy Paton / Kate Koons version ... and not to the remarkable degree of similarity exhibited by the Cecil Sharp / Louie Hooper version.

I suspect that the same process of moving away from the "sailor" version has occurred - that is, instead of a litany of reasons for the sailor to sign on for another voyage ... and earn the wherewithal to buy some decent clothing ... it now becomes a (family?) ritual / play song about each item being worn out. I haven't seen an Australian version that takes that tack.

I also read the Sharp rendition of the chorus as missing a few measures - those normally about "... the beer and tobacco...". Maybe the song's tune had 'morphed' to suit a short (mis-remembered?) chorus. Without the actual tune in front of me ... that's just a wild guess!

Regards,

Bob