Hi Mysha -

Yes the song IS about the Titanic, which is what I was referring to. No, icebergs are solid so they don't flow - but the story that is "going round and round" could. That image is already an abstract one, to which the final words could apply.

As I say, I don't sing this song myself so that wording is not mine. But it's how I've heard it here* and the idea of a story flowing makes sense to me and takes on its own life.

This may be different from McEvoy's original lyric (which I've never heard) but it's an interesting example of the folk process in motion, how tiny changes can slip in that are still meaningful in their own context. It's why we have so many versions of folk songs - and a lot of good material than has been composed by a particular artist becomes "traditionalised" (if that's a word). The guy I heard it from heard it from another guy, who probably heard it from another guy. (Round and round the story goes . . .)


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* I live very near the town that was Titanic's final port of call before her fatal voyage. Not that this makes the local way of singing it the "right" one, but I only mention it out of interest. Cobh, then known as Queenstown, is also The Holy Ground referred to in another song.