Hearing Leadbelly singing this song is a stupendous life-affirming experience. It is profoundly moving, profoundly exciting, and other people have leaned this song from his singing and shared a little of the magic by singing it themselves. To try to deny this experience to others(especially children) seems a depressingly sad ambition. having said that, this is a song about an experience in life whwich is not fun. So, yes, children being encouraged to sing it should know a little backgrounmd. But they absolutely definitely should be encouraged to sing it.