One of the more fascinating things about this song, some folklorists have recently taken note of, is the tremendous number of variants. In an age of internet transmission, where it is very easy to pass along the song verbatim and accurately without any alterations, people are still taking the time to alter the verses and rewrite them, as well as to write new verses. Some of the earliest version's verses didn't scan very well but have been rewritten to better fit the meter. It becomes a study of folk transmission and folk processing, despite this being an era of written transmission and e-mails.

--Charlie Baum