Gifford describes "Mary Ann" as “An anonymous bawdy Irish song.” They note that the only printed version cleans up the story of Mary Anne—a young woman who is quite charming “Though in build, and talk, and manner, like a man.” One of the bawdy versions, however (located by Mabel Worthington), concludes with a line that perfectly completes Mulligan’s quatrain:

For old Mary Ann
She doesn’t care a damn,
But, hising up her petticoats . . .