And more power to your elbow there, Bill! I did manage to find a mp3 of Bud & Travis version, but since I'm not familiar with the Burl Ives version, I wouldn't know how to compare.

But I will say this--the actress you mention, Ms. Allgood, was a major player at the Abbey at the time of it's founding and a fairly close associate of Yeats.

If I were you, I'd focus on trying to track down the tune Burl Ives uses on the Irish side. As I said, either Nicholas Carolan or Finbar Boyle, both of whom have encyclopedic knowledge of recordings and tunes both, may well be able to help you. I don't have Claddagh Records/Finbar's email , but I'm pretty sure it is at their website. Finbar is a wonderfully helpful person. So let us know if you find anything more out.

I wish you'd get as much response on this one as Raglan Road! You know, this poem is #4 on the Irish Times "Best Loved Irish Poems" list, and Raglan Road #5!

Another suggestion is that you post a query in the newsgroups, and to the Irish Traditional Music mailing list (you can do that through the archive web page). There may well be folks with more knowledge of the song in those forums than there are here.