It would be very interesting to know how many of (say) Scott's ballads were original, titivated, or the whole cloth. Not that it matters much.

We know the song is 16th/17th century, but was it half as cynical then? Printed versions are all the evidence we have.

He had a pimple on his head,
Down a down hey down a down,
The more he picked it, the more it bled,
With a down
He had another on his bum
And that one made him very glum,
With a down, derry derry down a down