I am sure that they relate in that they have traveled from person to person to person, with each person making changes along the way as folk songs usually do.

I got my version of "Walloping Window Blind" from Lena Borne Fish who sang that version for the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection. What is fascinating about this version is that there are two verses at the beginning of the song that are not in the poem. I suspect (and others as well that I have spoken with) that Mrs. Fish wrote the verses to explain how the ship got it's name.

When I perform this song, I always have a few older folks who recall the song from when they were children and most do remember the boxing glove line.

I have always suspected that the boxing glove line was some sort of mondegreen that might have occurred as the song evolved from "A Capitol Ship" to "Walloping Window Blind" with a bit of "Ten Thousand Miles Away" thrown in.

This is just my experience with the songs and what I found in doing some research in Flanders.

Deb Cowan