This song is a variant of an old english folk song known by some as King   
   Arthur's Servants.   
      
   Like many place names etc that were adopted in the New World, your 'Colony'   
   version has been adapted, very properly given it's a Folk song, for its new   
   home in the USA - but it is older than you suspected.   
      
   The words here are not really the clue at all - it's the tune / tempo they are   
   sung to that gives away the origin, if you have grown up among folk singers.   
      
   Words change in folk, in this song notably often, but the tune itself is   
   strikingly Old English rather than the more modern American folk - different   
   too from any of the traditional Celtic folk styles.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)