Sorry - I missed this earlier
"It appears that the song may have been at least in part made up by Mary Delaney, no?"
I doubt it - it is typical of many 'makkie-ups" that Travels sing
As far as we could find, there are no other recorded version of it, but we were dealing with only a small number and their tradition is very much ignored except by a very few
Tom Munnelly, who recorded them in Ireland for the Folklore Department never came across it either.
I would guess that it is based on Elizabeth Cronin's, "What would you do if you marry a soldier", but I can't confirm that.
She learned it from her father - interestingly (to me at least) she referred to all her Traditional songs as "Me daddie's songs", but when we recorded him, compared to Mary's huge repertoire, he could only remember six.
Mary appeared to be using the term as a description of her estimation of the type of song rather than their actual source
She had twice as many pop and country and western songs which she refused to sing because "they're not the ones you want - I only sing them because that's what the lads ask for down in the pub"
She defined her songs if many revivalists don't (as did Walter Pardon BTW)
To understand the personal significance of What Will You do, you need to know a little about Mary's situation.
She had a life that would have made a great Dostoevsky novel.
Blind from birth, mother of sixteen children, she was abandoned by her husband and left to fend for herself - when we met her, she had a child-in arms.
The authorities, in their wisdom, decided she was unable to cope, so they took all her young children into care - the last time we saw her she had got them all back, one way and another!
She was one of the most self-possessed yet gregarious people we ever met - she loved company and was fiercely proud of her songs - yet willing to sing them for anybody who asked.
When she started to get her children back, she decided to get them educated, so she got the council to find her a flat in Bethnal Green - a somewhat squalid, sparsely furnished echoey cave of a dwelling in which she sat alone each day until the children came home from school at night
We would visit her when we could and she would drag us in - for the company - it was the only time we ever saw her depressed.
We recorded some of her most intense singing at that time - particularly her version of 'Buried in Kilkenny' (Lord Randall) into which she poured all her misery.
That version is available on 'Voice of the People' - her brother can be heard singing it on 'Puck'
I've always looked on 'What Will You Do' as Mary's wry scream of defiance at a life that hadn't treated her too well
She was an uttery amazing and memorable lady - a dear friend who is still sorely missed and fondly remembered - and we never managed to get all her songs.
Some years ago, our friend, radio producer Paula Carroll (no relation) put together three somwehat magnificent radio programmes on our work with Travellers - both Mary and the amazing Mikeen McCarthy from Kerry feature largely on them
If anybody would like a copy I'm happy to Dropbox it to whoever PMs me an e-mail address (but it will have to wait until we return from a family funeral in Liverpool at the end of the week)
Sorry to bang on at such length - nice to know Mary's songs are still remembered - she would have loved that
Jim Carroll