First of all the structure does not match up with our typical folk ballad structure. Can you think of another folk song that matches this one in structure? There might be a few but I would contend they also probably come from the theatre or glee clubs.

Secondly, for me at least the extended 'below-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow' is much more typical of a glee or a theatrical piece.

Yep - there's nothing like that sort of repetition of phrases, words or even isolated syllables in the ballad tradition, or in the more freely structured mediaeval poetry and song that preceded it. On the other hand you do find that in Italianate opera, which is where the glee club idiom mainly came from (mediated in the British Isles by the art-music composer who wrote Michael Turner's Waltz).


It's the obsession with song origins and looking for chapter and verse regarding a song many hundreds of years old which I cannot understand!

Knowing the origin of a song often connects you with the human concerns that impelled someone to compose it or made people first want to sing it. Folk tradition is not just about transmitting words and tunes, it's about meaning and history.