A song which paints a picture of unhappy love, with the singer scorned by his/her lover. The song often involves an unwanted pregnancy and a wish on the part of the girl that she was dead. This apparently mournful theme has proved hugely popular with source singers in England and occasionally elsewhere. It has often turned up in the repertoire of gypsy singers. Broadside versions date from the 19th century, but it has ancestors dating back to the seventeenth century.
Notes by Gwilym Davies