Interesting fact - Molly's father, John Morris Rankin, actually did die by drowning. The circumstances were nothing like the song, though; he was driving on a winding highway in Cape Breton, and he hit a pile of road salt that had been spilled on the road. He lost control of the truck and plunged off a 25 metre cliff into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Interesting fact - Molly's father, John Morris Rankin, actually did die by drowning. The circumstances were nothing like the song, though; he was driving on a winding highway in Cape Breton, and he hit a pile of road salt that had been spilled on the road. He lost control of the truck and plunged off a 25 metre cliff into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.