Cecil Sharp's Note 82 (1916)

No. 82. Driving away at the Smoothing Iron

I have noted two other versions of this song. The tune is a variant of “All round my hat,” a popular song of the early years of the last century. Chappell, in his Ancient English Melodies (No. 126), prints a version of the air and dubs it “a Somersetshire tune,” the original of ‘All round my hat.’ ” I believe it to be a genuine folk-air, which, as in other cases, formed the basis of a street-song.