I spoke too soon.

Gus Meade's Country Music Sources identifies an original: "Just to Make a Change in Business All Around" by an unknown composer c. 1887. The same title was then claimed by Ezra Kendall in 1895, but in a changed version. Meade says the recordings mentioned below more closely resemble the 1887 version.

The Carolina Twins' version was one descendant in 1929. The other, though, was done five months earlier: Uncle Dave Macon and Sid Harkreader's "We Need a Change in Business All Around," recorded in Chicago June 20, 1929 and released as Vocalion 5374.

Recordings of the song followed: Roy Harvey in 1930, Jess Hillard in 1932, Duke Clark in 1932 and then Mainer & Morris in 1937, also Claude Casey Trio in 1937.

So it looks like the Twins were covering Macon and Harkreader. And once again Uncle Dave Macon, who knew 19th-century pop song better than anyone, can be credited with pulling a fine old chestnut out of obscurity.

Bob