The hymn tune Kingsfold, which is adapted from SOTCD, sounds like a dirge. I'm an atheist but some hymn tunes appeal to me regardless. For example, Kingsfold is pretty if they speed it up. Here is Kingsfold "sung like a dirge" which I was familiar with before I heard SOTCD: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5YeHsap14qg.html SOTCD is much better than the hymn, precisely because the hymn tune is gloomy.
He smiled at me and he says, says he, "That's the gem of Ireland's crown; It's Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann, She's the star of the County Down".