From Imperialism and Music: Britain 1876-1953 by Jeffrey Richards (Manchester University Press, 2002), page 508:

One significant sub-genre that Dawson also mastered and which was immensely popular in the interwar period was the song of the open road: songs celebrating freedom from restriction and responsibilities, lauding the fresh air and beauty of the countryside and highlighting the carefree life of a tramp, a key figure of interwar mythology who could be a figure of menace—deracinated, light-fingered, potentially violent—but could also be a romanticized free soul in touch with the true heart of England. It was a significant element of the rural myth which was part of the powerful cultural reaction to industrialization and urbanization.

These songs, usually set to a tramping rhythm, were invariably tuneful, cheerful and evocative. Emblematic of them is Pat Thayer's I Travel the Road (recorded in 1931):

My garden the gorse, my carpet the flowers,
I travel the road, who cares.
My candle the moon, my pillow the flowers,
My slumber the night owl shares,
A lark in the sky to call me at dawn,
The scent of the breeze to wish me good morn,
A gypsy am I, a-wandering by, I travel the road, who cares.