When was the play written please, GUEST?

I would assume the song was written post 1900 as it doesn't appear in any of the many nineteenth century northern anthologies and they were very thorough in including just about everything available.

Could someone post a Lancashire version please, with dialect, so we can see what it looks like. As another Hull lad I can't imagine it coming from anywhere but the area between Bradford and Barnsley, but then I'm no dialect expert.

While I'm on anybody got the latest on Ray's health problems? He doesn't appear to have surfaced yet.