For those interested, here's a different take on the Ballymena song.

Circa 1968 when I was in grade 5, our class sang Ballymena as part of the school musical concert night. A private Catholic school in Adelaide Australia, the overtones of the song today seem strange with racial overtones to "paint in black, black, black".

As 10 year olds we never new where the song came from, and I still recall it was embarrassing to sing and dance to. But now it all makes sense with Harry Belafonte on the radio in 1968. It would have been "hot, hot, hot" and the parents in the audience would have known the song quite well I guess.