Misheard lyrics can be funny or a great annoyance. I am constantly irritated by the use of my late father's lyric to the Dark Island on the Internet, it's even been spread by Mudcat's own digital database with wrongly transcribed words, which spoil the scansion and the way they trip off the the tongue.. so "Though I've wandered away from the land of my birth becomes "OH I've wandered away'... and some eejits sing "Roving around to the ends of the earth" instead of "Roaming around to the ends of the earth" etc.   It may sound petty, but these minor sounds and language uses, affect people's perceptions of a song, and wreck it in the ears of the people who know the true lyric and the way the syllables fit the tune. Unfortunately, when mangled lyrics are put up, they stay up, and get spread from site to site. It's not so much folk tradition, but modern viral errors. My father's lyric was issued on sheet music as well as original recordings so there is an official version to work from, but the lyrically butchered versions on Mudcat and elsewhere overwhelm the correct lyric.