Thanks Malcolm yes I had read that thread, though I've also heard the suggestion from elsewhere (sorry can't remember where, possibly someone at a gig in Scotland) that it might have started out as waulkin' (sorry I forgot the apostrophe) song originally. (We do a waulkin' tune in our set so people often come to tell us stuff afterwards).

And thanks, Susan. My sketchy understanding is that RLS objected to the jingoistic tone of Boulton's work and penned the new words wherein BPC is in France reflecting on his failures - but that could be wrong too.

Heady stuff either way