After opening night, his singing was just tape recorded. Since the singer was supposedly in a cell, out of sight, there was no reason for him to appear every night or to spend money on another singer.

Pretty definitively, the tape has disappeared along with other material & props from the Dublin production.

I can say that in the book of the play, the language used is proper English, not Oirish or bog Irish. Written as "old," not "auld" or any other accent. I've wondered how he actually sang it, though.

The song never occurs as a full song. It's used a verse or just a few lines as curtain raiser & closer. I'm not even sure the tiny, low-budget theater had a real curtain so the distraction of the song would have been very useful.

It _might_ be that MacColl was the first to stitch it together as a regular song. I sign it as close as I can to the play (slightly different from the database) but, as I said, there are 1/2 repeated verses here & there in the book.

I agree that no credit or tune is actually given in the book.

Good song.