Hmmm..."It is highly speculative and misleading to assume that an earliest printed version of a song is any indication that this is its origin and that it hadn't been in oral currency before that time. We simply don't know and can only speculate on the basis of what little information we have."

That said, that is, the master having spoken, no Steve. 75E is exquisite. The only way it could be inauthentic is if "Young John" made it up himself. And, you're right. I am reading a lot into this because, unlike uncomplicated ballads like "Barbara Allen', there's so much there to read. Lots of historical insight to gain.

And believe it or not, a lot of research is intuition. When I heard Nora Cleary, I could look clear across the ocean. No gay little parlor song there. The other modern day versions, so far anyway, are clearly post-Victorian, primarily text derived :-))) If you have never heard Nora Cleary, you need to buy that collection. It's very important work.

And I can be as passionate about this itsy-bitsy ballad as I wanna be. At least I'm not like Margaret Thatcher putting everybody out of work, eh? Eh?