always sounded a bit dodgy to me - 7 generations, 7 long years, 7 dwarves, 7 types of ambiguity, 7 the mystic number....if you ask me its one o' those things in the tradition that are a bit too neat.

Then theres the bit where they keep looking over their shoulder.   The judge in geordie looked over his left shoulder, I looked over my shoulder in Brigg fair and saw my love coming tripping down by me.....

why over the shoulder...were they Jessie Matthws fans, did they all have dandruff...? I think not.

Maybe WAV is onto something and they were singing harmony without the use of chords. the whole English tradition is a conspiracy theory - find out whodunnit and you'll know who killed Kennedy, and break the Da Vinci Code.