Adolescents have one and only one meaning for the pronoun "it, "

applying it to any and all possible circumstances. In this song,

that particular interpretation is doubtless correct, and once an

audience catches onto this, the increasingly audacious text will

often be smothered by laughter or gasps. The text of the third verse

will more than suffice as an example. "Would I had the heart and

wit/to make it stand and conjure it/that haunts me thus with fear.

Doubtless 'tis some harmless sprite/for it by day as well as night/

is ready to appear/ Be it friend or be it foe/Ere long I'll try

what it will do."

The setting rather starts to resemble the songs of the early baroque

period, particularly in its use of the major scale in the vocal lines

and in the multile quavers that in the baroque were extended into

trills and runs.

© All Music Guide