I recorded this song on my Handful of Songs album. I learned it from Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's (one of my all-time favorite folk albums.) I added one additional verse I haven't seen mentioned in this thread... I think that I got it from Leather Wing Bat:

   Then said the blackbird, sitting in a chair
   Once I courted a lady fair
   But she turned fickle and she turned her back
   And ever since then, my head's been black

Jerry