Two more odd things: looking at Creighton, Nova Scotia I see that there is a chorus - this is described by Belden as a unique nonsense refrain (not exact words) and this is repeated by Tristram Coffin in The British Traditional Ballad in North America. They're all wrong - all that happened was that the singer using the Flowers of Edinburgh tune lilted the tune between verses - this was slavishly noted by the collector as Hi diddle deedle dum etc - in this case the vocables are not prescribed - there may be some consistency, but would not have been repeated;

Second item - O'Neill's "Maureen from Gibberlan" - there's a song text which I remember as being entitled "Old Morney Gibberland" in an obscure Irish journal or perhaps a songsheet - I will now spend hours finding it.

John Moulden