I've always loved Nic's version of this song. As other people have said, it's dreamlike, probably partly because of the missing bits. I believe he performed it at the Enterprise in Chalk Farm one Sunday evening around 1976, happy days.   

For years I convinced myself that "bullet" in the song means "letter" i.e. a cut down version of "bulletin". But of course the earlier variant in Pepys' collection explicitly states that he cocks his musket and fires the bullet!

Perfect example of a folkie drawing conclusions from inadequate evidence, methinks. Not that THAT's unusual......