Thanks, Gene. My preliminary check of the DT didn't show anything that looked quite right. I had seen the "Intoxicated Rat" but had only read the first verse. I had my friend take a look at Doc Watson's version as it appears in the DT and she said it had familiar pieces within it but was rather different from what she had heard as a child.

After checking a little further I have found that this shouldn't be too surprising. It appears that this is one of many songs which probably has its roots in "Four Nights Drunk", Child #274.