I love finding different cover versions of songs, especially if the first version you heard was quite modern. Kisses sweeter than wine a fantastic song by Bongwater but so many other people have done it previously. I don’t know if Jimmie Rodgers is one of the earliest but he died in 1933!
Pete Seeger “wrote” this song in 1950, combining a Leadbelly tune with an Irish folksong. Pete Seeger doesn’t take credit for his songs; he recognizes that people have always been modifying and “stealing” songs. That’s what folk music is about. People just singing and playing. Anyhoo Jimmy Rogers had this hit with it a couple of years later (while Pete was being blacklisted in America for being a communist).
So, to cut to the chase: the original Jimmy Rogers, the Yodeling Brakeman, was one of the early Country singers in the 1920’s and 30’s. He’s famous for his yodelin’ blues and he was something special. I hope that explains some of it….