Hi Wolfgang et al,
In the interests of claifying the matter of M W-R singing "cock of the north" instead of "cock of the morning" as in the poem, I cornered M W-R tonight (as he was appearing at our club, --I put myself between him and the bar actually) . (great man, great voice, great songs - and poetry BTW)and asked him about this very vexed question. He explained thus: "I've always sung it like that, though I have heard other people use morning. My understanding is that" he goes on" Dorothy wrote it for her husband who of course, was a sailor. His territory (if that's the right phrase) was the northern coastline of Australia, hence he was cock of the north - ern coastline". It was never memory lapse or fruedian slip. If we assume that Martyn has never researched the original poem, then it all seems quite plausible to me.
Cheers Brad.