Thanks for the link to the pp&m words, Allan. Interesting. I learned a song at school (in England) called Buttermilk Hill, with that verse in, but I don't remember there being a chorus.

I heard something similar to that chorus on Aly Bain's 'Downhome' programme, sung by someone from the Appalachians, I think. I surmised that the Irish words had lost their literal meaning when heard in America by non-Irish speakers, and the 'nonsense' words had taken their place.

Noreen