Probably all the modern performances of this fetching street rhyme trace back to the 19th century versions published in Alice B. Gomme's Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Though it's unhelpfully indexed there as "The Wind" and thus isn't easy to find, Gomme lists versions from Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Isle of Wight, Yorkshire and Tyrie, and mentions a Warwickshire version. All these versions were collected earlier than the book's publication in 1894. Among them are the "London city" and"golden city" versions.

Gomme describes it as a ring game with one child standing in the center. "When asked, 'Please tell me who they be,' the girl in the middle gives the names or initials of a boy in the ring (or vice versa). The ring then sings the rest of the words, and the boy who was named goes into the centre. This is the Forest of Dean way of playing. In the Shropshire game, at the end of the first verse the girl in the centre beckons one from the ring, or one volunteers to go into the centre; the ring continues singing, and at the end the two children kiss ... "

As to Irish versions and Belfast City: Leslie Daiken, in Children's Games Throughout the Year (Batsford, London 1949), cites a Belfast version from Hugh Quinn's ms. Collection of Belfast Street Rhymes, also one from Cork. He implies it's used as a skipping game.

The search continues, though, for Albert Mooney. My guess: the Rankin Family found a local version and Albert Mooney was in it. (The Rankins also made the song seem a good deal sexier, but maybe they couldn't help that.)

Bob