Having checked my Leadbelly Library of Congress box set I can confirm that Rick (as I suspected) was correct (Damn!)and Leadbelly didn't record it, (see earlier thread on Woried Blues!). I must have been thinking of Sonny Terry's version. I know US 'Catters seemed to have learned it via the Carter family but I don't have any of their recordings and I don't think they would have been the influence on the UK 1950s jazz bands from whence the skiffle version emerged.
The train I ride is 21 coaches long when I sing it but the DT version is 16 coaches long. My version must be British Rail, since privitization they've cut the number of carriages!
If the shackles on his feet were 21 links and each link had a letter of his name, what was his name?
Answers on a postcard please to the Neil Young Center.....
RtS