I 'learned' the song as follows:

"He never shaved a whisker off of his hairy hide...
He'd just pound 'em in with a mallet, and bite 'em off inside"

I not only don't find one particular version sacrosanct, I don't know what a 'horney hide' is in the context of whiskers.

I don't find the song has to be a metaphorical expression of class or profession. I take it in the Paul Bunyon tradition of frotierspeople being tough and having their own traditions of telling lies, each one bigger ' n the last. In the context of humor.

You can certainly let your mileage vary.