You seem to be trying to disprove any L R influence on Tam Boy,Lighter. You see Tam Boy's resemblance to Balocky Bill, but where's the mention of buggery hairs and stairs in Tammboy? Tamboy wasn't a sailor either! Differences abound , but there are interesting similarities between the two songs, surely ? If you heard a sad question and answer type song from the sixteenth century called "Sailor, Sailor won't thou marry me" and if it mentioned a grandfather's chest , you wouldn't make such a big fuss if somebody said that there could possibly be any influence .
are there
While it's true that Tamboy doesn't get poisoned from eating eels, they they are what the widow proposes feeding him on. She is more than a prospective employer, the whole comic point is that that the widow is a prospective lover , who concludes by asking Tam to get married; he is uneasy about this .I believe Tam Boy appears in the "uneasy and unrequited love" section of Henry's book , which I don't have to hand right now .