"bawdy" = rowdy and sardonic?

[Jonathan Lighter]

2008 Theresa M. Towner in _American Literary Scholarship 2006_ (Durham, N.C.: Duke U. P.)  171: J. Roberts provide the texts of John Keble’s hymn “The Voice That Breathed o’er Eden” and Kipling’s bawdy song “The Sergeant’s Weddin’ ” in order to demonstrate their significance to Quentin’s section of the novel.
 
Dr. Towner was named as University Teacher of the Year at the U. of Texas at Deallas in 2002.
 
Kipling's poem is viewable at Google Books. Perhaps the implied rhyme "whore" persuaded Dr. Towner to describe the poem as "bawdy."
 
But I doubt it.
 
JL




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