I learned this song from my dad back in the late 30's. The first song I can remember singing. His version was a combination of the above verses with a few slight changes.

"Oh gather around you jolly old bums and listen while I hum,
A story I'll relate to you of a great American bum,
From north to south to east to west, like a swarm of bees they come,
They sleep in the dirt and wear a shirt that's dirty and full of crumbs."


"It's early in the morning when the dew is on the ground,
The bum arises from his nest and gazes all around.
From the boxcar to the hay stack, he wanders everywhere,
He never gets back upon the track until he gets a square."

"We three bums, we jolly three bums; we live like royal Turks,
We have good luck, and bum on our chuck, God bless the man that works."

Cap't Bob