If Moos would like to hear the Lizzie Higgins' version of this ballad, it's very readily accessible -- for free -- on the Kist o Riches site (archive recordings from the School of Scottish Studies, the BBC and a Gaelic archive).

The search facility allows you to search by geographical area, or performer or song title. If you put in Allison Cross you'll get 4 versions, all by Lizzie Higgins and recorded between 1986 and 1989 -- two before an audience.

Moos might be especially interested in the first example, recorded for John Jacob Niles no less, which is preceded by a great piece of background where all of Lizzie's storytelling skill comes to the fore as she gives the 'background' of the song and talks of how she uses the pipe style from her father Isaac.

As far as learning how to sing such a song, my best advice would be to listen to the tune until you have the basic shape of it securely and then begin to sit the words onto it so that it sounds like the rhythm of speech, of storytelling.