John W. was speaking about that particular song:

He sings the song himself; as far as the controversial words, the text is pretty similar to the above text, no mention of November though. Refers to ninety-eight, and the queen. Uses 'cotamore' and 'life's tumultuous scene'. He finishes by switching to spoken word for the final word "Skibbereen".
Alan Lomax says: "that's an old Irish set piece."
John W. Green: "yeah, indeed. God, my father-in-law could sing that".
Alan Lomax: "It made your--
JWG: "It made your hair stand up. He used to stand on the floor, with a lot of them Irish guys from Ireland around him. "

(Apparently the first generation guys had parties which would involve singing contests to see who could 'sing the other one down')