The song was recorded by Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton from the singing of William Smith (1867-1955) of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in August 1948. Smith started out in fishing schooners, then moved on to larger vessels ca. 1885. He shipped to the Caribbean and South America in the hides, lumber, and sugar/molasses/rum trades. Smith said he'd heard the song both in his home port and in the Caribbean.

The recording of Smith's "Swing Your Tail" is in the Nova Scotia Archives. I have not heard it.

Peter Kasin and Richard Adrianowicz, however, have heard it and incorporated Smith's four verses into their rendition, which they give as follows:

Swing your tail, and a-swing your tail [final pitches sol sol mi]
Chorus: Mind how you swing your tail [final pitches fa mi re]
Swing last night and the night before [final pitch re ti]
Chorus: Mind how you swing your tail [final pitches mi mi do]

One day the blackbird said to the crow
"What makes you love your farmer so?"

"That's my trade since I've been born"
Scratching and a-digging up the farmer's corn"

Swing your tail in the afterhold
Swing last night and the night before

I am assuming that Kasin and Adrianowicz used the tune heard sung on the archival Smith recording for their rendition. (?) So in lieu of the Smith recording and for reference, here is a sample of K&A's rendition:

On _Boldy from the Westward (2005)_