Leeneia has a point - in this day and age, the bawdy songs seem to be mostly parodies of songs meant for a broader audience, so one would think that the same would hold true for the bawdy songs of old.

There are certain clues that indicate when a text has been changed, either to bawdy or from bawdy. Sometimes, it takes some good sleuthing to figure out which was the original text.

And I'm not so sure "bowdlerizing" is so bad. There are lots of really good songs from the 19th century that simply cannot be sung nowadays because of their racist or sexist language. The Cat Came Back is a perfect example, as well as many of the songs of Stephen C. Foster.

But if bowdlerize we must, I should hope we would do it carefully, and not lay "political correctness" on too thick.

-Joe-