Despite my being in the English folk scene for 40 years, I have never heard the last verse of the full version sung in England, nor on any recording. Perhaps it is too downbeat, or thought irrelevant or inappropriate.
The song was sung here but fell from favour some decades ago, for reasons not appropriate to this forum.
I have heard the tune from time to time but not with words - there are several sets of words I believe, I can call to mind two at the moment.
I have Clancy Brother recordings and I do like them, and I too prefer the traditional Irish dancing to the more modern on stage version -
I am always of the opinion that dancing should be a communal activity, which is why I play for a morris side which is dedicated to involving the audience - in fact it could claim that completely involving the audience and having them all in the dance is its ultimate objective.
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