"O-Canada" is a traditional Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and English folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

. It is believed to have been written before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1982))

When her love goes to sea, a lady dresses as a sailor and joins (his or another's) ship's crew. When she is discovered, (the crew/her lover) determine to drown her. The captain saves her and they marry.

Based on similarity of title, some connect this song with "Canaday-I-O, Michigan-I-O, Colley's Run I-O". There is no connection in plot, however, and any common lyrics are probably the result of cross-fertilization

Cross-fertilization

Cross-fertilization can refer to:*Allogamy, where an ovum from one individual is fertilized with the spermatozoa of another*Heterosis, where different strains are cross-bred to form a hybrid...

.

The Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 song Caledonia/Pretty Caledonia is quite different in detail — so much so that it is separate from the "Canada-I-O" texts in the Roud Folk Song Index

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 ("Canaday-I-O" is #309; "Caledonia" is #5543). The plot, however, is too close for scholars to distinguish.

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 11(1982), "Kennady I-o," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.12(329), Harding B 11(2039), "Lady's Trip to Kennedy"; Harding B 25(1045), "The Lady's Trip to Kennady"; Firth c.12(330), "Canada Heigho"; Firth c.13(240), Firth c.12(331), Harding B 11(2920), 2806 c.16(72), "Canada I, O"

Recordings

• Nic Jones
  Nic Jones
  Nicolas Paul "Nic" Jones is an English folk singer, fingerstyle guitarist and fiddle player whose professional career spanned the years 1964-1982. He recorded five solo albums, and was a frequent guest performer.-Biography:...
  
  , "Canadee-I-O" (on Penguin Eggs
  Penguin Eggs
  Penguin Eggs is an album by Nic Jones, released in 1980. Allmusic described the album as "one of those rare records where not just every song, but each instrumental part is worth hearing"....
  
  , 1980)
• Bob Dylan
  Bob Dylan
  Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
  
  , "Canadee-i-o" (on Good as I Been to You
  Good as I Been to You
  Good as I Been to You is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 28th studio album, released by Columbia Records in November 1992.It is composed entirely of traditional folk songs and covers, and is Dylan's first entirely solo, acoustic album since Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964...
  
  , 1992)
• Seven Nations
  Seven Nations
  Seven Nations is a Celtic rock band that formed in New York City in 1993. The name comes from the seven Celtic nations, including Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Galicia...
  
  , "Canadee-i-o" (on Old Ground
  Old Ground
  Old Ground is an album released by Seven Nations, at that time known as Clan na Gael, in 1995.-Track listing:#Colonel Fraser/The Big Parcel/Elzik's Farewell #No Reason #The Pound a Week Rise #Scream...
  
  , 1995)
• The White Stripes
  The White Stripes
  The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
  
  , "Canadee I-O" (on "Under Great White Northern Lights, B-Shows", 2010)