I'm reviving this thread (one of many 'Wild Rover' threads, of course), because I just stumbled on something interesting. A year or so ago, Tradsinger wrote:

"I know there are lots of versions on broadsides etc and that lots of versions have been collected, mainly in England, but none, so far as I know, have the well-known tune that we have come to love and loathe. The question is - what is the real source of the Clancy Brothers/Dubliners' tune? Or is it a mystery?"

I was just browsing the Take 6 archive, when I noticed that the Francis Collinson collection contains several manuscript items relating to this title. There is a text collected from a Charlie Moore in 1922, although the tune given for it doesn't seem to match. Under COL/6/13, however, there is a different version, unattributed, with a tune quite similar to the Clancy singalong, a 'No Nay Never' chorus, and a text that is similar, but with some interesting differences, e.g:

I'll go home to my father, and get me a wife
And never return to this prodigal life
I'll go home to my mother and there I'll remain
And I ne'er shall be called the wild rover again
[Is this the origin of the 'Prodigal Son' verse?]

The alehouse is said to be in 'Halifax Port' (what, Nova Scotia?). However, the Collinson text seems much more like the version Tradsinger is after than the Sam Larner one or any of the others I know. The question is, where did Collinson get it? Anybody know anything about his collection?

If you want to check it for yourself, go to Take 6 , search 'Wild Rover' in the main box, and scroll down for the Collinson version (some of the other documents appear to be the same tune, transcribed in different keys).