A song which is widely known, probably because it is easily remembered and learnt but surprising only one version has been noted in Gloucestershire. Perhaps it is so well known that collectors have not thought fit to note it. It was seldom printed on broadsides and appears to have carried on its traditional life quite well without the help of the written word. Many people in the folk scene will know a version called “The Rattling Bog” or “The Bog down in the Valley-Oh”. It is also a song which is prone to additions, some venturing into the bawdy, or at least suggestive. Versions of it permeate the English –speaking world, and it is often found in anthologies of children’s rhymes.
Notes by Gwilym Davies 2 July 2015