I thought I'd also post the version from Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads, since the Bill Jones family history is significantly different:I RIDE AN OLD PAINT
I ride an old Paint, and I lead an old Dan
I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolian.
They feed 'em in the coulees, they water in the draw,
Their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw.Ride around, little dogies,
Ride around them slow,
For the fiery and snuffy are raring to go.
Old Bill Jones had a daughters and a son,
Son went to college and the daughter went wrong.
His wife got killed in a poolroom fight,
Still he keeps singing from morning till night:Ride around, little dogies,
Ride around them slow,
For the fiery and snuffy are rarin' to go.
When I die, take my saddle from the wall,
Put it on to my pony, lead him out of his stall.
Tie my bones to his back, turn our faces to the west,
And we'll ride the prairie that we love the best.Ride around, little dogies,
Ride around them slow,
For the fiery and snuffy are rarin' to go.
Source: Pete Seeger American Favorite Ballads (1961), page 25
This same version is also in Fred & Irwin Silver's Folksinger's Wordbook (1973), p. 106.
I checked Larkin, Lomax, and Scott, which are essentially the same as the Sandburg version. I found nothing different enough to bother posting, and nothing earlier than Sandburg (1927). Seeger says Sandburg got his version from Larkin, but I think Seeger may be wrong because Larkin's book was published in 1931.
One thing: in Ballad of America (1966), pp. 260-261, John Anthony Scott has the first line as:I ride an old paint, I lead an old dam.
Same in Larkin, pp. 33-35, "I Ride an Old Paint"