I've been comparing the writing styles and trying to get down to the heart of the matter. I am leaning towards Merle "borrowing" from the song that was probably heard by him in oral tradition, related probably 2-3-4-5-6 people down the line from the author. He apparently occupied some of the same places as GD did and I think that it's likely if the song existed, he would have had some exposure to it. It's interesting to note that he was told to "write some songs" with a session to record scheduled allegedly the "next day". In that night apparently he brainstormed the song, as well as a re-writing of Nine Pound Hammer, Dark as a Dungeon, and one other song in a night and recorded them the next day. It's also possible that many of the lyrics in both songs were standard slang, or cliche's that had been around for a long time. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that the lyrics that were changed in Nine Pound Hammer, were found to be borrowed from another song as well.