Don't know where people are getting all this recruiting sergeant stuff. All the versions I knew in Cumbrian pub days had identical and clear stories. A musician (fiddler?) is wandering around by Kirkby Stephen, goes to play in town, finds a lish lass who joins in on the tambourine, they go to Kendal, get pissed, repair upstairs at the hotel for some more intensive music practise, and in the morning the lass pays the bill. Sort of thing that regularly happens to us street musicians. And after some fun times, she buggers off to Germany, leaving the fiddler a little sad, but with happy memories. We are in Road Movie/Novel territory here, not nasty recruiting army stuff. And for those who think that this is an Irish song, please note the tambourine. Not a bodhrán. And note the "lish". You'll never find a lish colleen. Lish lasses are a breed confined to the area between the Lune and the Eden.