The version in the Randolph book was sung in 1942 by L. J. Farmington, who said he had learned it in about 1900.

It's similar to some versions of "Take A One On Me," such as the one Howard Odum collected by 1908 and the one Leadbelly knew ("main... cocaine").

It's also similar to the "Baby Take A Look At Me" that Gates Thomas said he heard before 1906:

"Went to the hop-point [sic, hop-joint], went in a lope;
Sign on the 'scription case, 'NO MORE DOPE.'
Ho, lo, Baby, take a look at me.
Old Crow Whiskey, Devil's Island Gin,
Doctor said it would kill him, but didn't tell him when.
Ho, lo, Baby, take a look at me.
Down to the river and back again,
Had a little money, but I blowed it in.
Ho, lo, Baby, take a look at me."

That's obviously related to John Hurt's "Hop Joint," which he remembered well he had learned in about 1901, and which was similar to the "I Went To The Hop Joint" that Dorothy Scarborough printed two versions of in the '20s. Hurt's refrain was "Oh my babe, why don't you come home," Scarborough 1 had "Oh baby darlin', why don't you come home," and Scarborough 2 had "Oho, my baby, take a-one on me." Scarborough 1 has the "hack[s]"/"back" rhyme (which Willie McTell used in "Delia," too), and it also has lyrics that tie in with "Boll Weevil" ("First time I saw him...").

It's kind of surprising that all of these songs typically had a 12-bar form except for the so-called "Take A One..." or "Take A Whiff...," which typically just had a progression similar to I-I-IV-IV-V-V-I-I -- in Leadbelly's and Mance Lipscomb's versions, for instance. Maybe someone just shortened the 12-bar form to get that. (If so, that would raise the question of whether that's where "Alabama Bound" got its chord progression too.)