I, too, love this song, and since the original post requested some of the background to the song...

The liner notes to the copy I have states that both Johnny Cash and Eddy Arnold turned down the opportunity to record the song. How they came up with Walter Brennan is a good guess. The somewhat a-tempo sound of the song comes about quite naturally. Apparently Brennan had no sense of timing, and had to constantly be coached to stay with the music. The result is the classic sing-song kind of chant that, far more than a polished singer could provide, really adds to the "down-home" feel of the song.

Sometimes its better to be yourself and come off as genuine than to be polished and to appear fake.

Freightdawg