I learned this version from Bill Clifton back in the ,70s. He said it had been recorded by Uncle Lew Childre. I don't have any further details, I still sing it, though.
Enjoy.

Percy Wilson Gay would leave his home most every day
And then his wife would say "You'd better be back on time"
Percy swore that he would and he promised her that he'd be good,
But Percy couldn't work or settle down,
Foe when his work was through, he would find a friend or two,
And they would go out and hit the town,
He'd call her up each night as she sat home, and this is what
he'd say on the telephone....

"Hang out the front door key, dear, hang out the front door key,
And don't wait up for me, dear, I won't be home 'til three,
I'm out with a poor sick friend, dear, who'd do about the same for me,
So hang out a light in the hallway tonight, and hang out the front door key."

Well, one night when he got home he found himself there all alone,
His wife she had gone he knew not where,
And although it served him right, it gave him such an awful fright
To think he'd never again find her there.
She called him up at three saying "Hello Dear, This is me,
How does it feel to be there all alone? I'm out with some friends of mine,
We're having about the durndest time and I don't know when I'll ever make it home"
On the table there he found a note, he opened it and this is what she wrote...

"Hang out the front door key, dear.....etc.