The Planxty and Dubliners version is further down the page. Immediately below is the original sean nós version sung by Connemara native Seosamh Ó hÉanaí (Joe Heany). The song is an old night-visiting song and something a man would sing to let a girl know he was coming to see her. Since there also exists an Irish tradition of house spirits, both mischievous and helpful, the song could also be a reference to that.

In the first video is a recoding by Seosamh Ó hÉanaí. Seosamh was an Irish traditional (sean nós) singer from County Galway, Ireland. He spent most of his adult life abroad, living in England, Scotland and New York city, in the course of which he recorded hundreds of songs. Ó hÉanaí was born Carna, a remote village in Connemara, County Galway, along the west coast of Ireland. This is an Irish-speaking district. He said he started singing at the age of five, but his shyness kept him from singing in public until he was 20. He learned English at school in Carna. When he was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to attend school in Dublin. While there he won first and second prizes at a national singing competition. Most of his repertoire (estimated to exceed 500 songs) was learned while growing up in Carna.