A rare bawdy song, with a pun on the word hare/hair. It was published on broadsides a number of times in the 19th century, (e.g. http://lib-lespaul.library.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/broadside/id/129) but presumably it was too overtly sexual to be taken up by many performers. However, it did go into the folk tradition and has been collected, although rarely, in the USA and Scotland, as well as England. Lementina Brazil sang it “straight” and if she grasped the full double entendre, she didn’t let on. A version of it is known to the English folk revival world through a recording by Martin Carthy.
Notes by Gwilym Davies 15 April 2015