Hi poppagator

Mr. Driftwood was probably alive in '36, but if so, quite young. A twenty-plus-year gap between composition and recording seems a bit much...
Yes, he was alive. Born in 1907 he wrote the song (1936 according to him) as an aid to teaching history (he spent thirty years as a teacher in the Ozarks) not as a performing songwriter.

by Jimmie, I assume? I guess you're telling us that Jimmie Driftwood did record and release his song as a single that was not widely heard ~ except, of course, by the two artists who made hits of the song in '59. Correct! It did get air time but was very restricted because of two 'offensive' words.

Sorry, my bad memory. Banned words were 'hell' & 'Damn' in U.S.
'Bloody' was changed to 'bloomin' in Lonnies british version for similar reasons (airplay)

I recommend the biography & also his recordings. Plays a mouth-bow like nobody & his home-made guitar sounds different to a Martin, Gibson etc. but non the worse for it.

Cheers