The song was originally composed by Porter Grainger, undoubtedly based on some folk piece derived from "St James" et al. McTell probably learned it off one of the several 1927 recordings by femme blues singers and turned it into a signature piece of his own. He recorded the song in his LOC session, 1940; for Atlantic, 1949; and in his "last session" with Ed Rhodes at an Atlanta record store in 1956. The only commercial take was the one for Atlantic, and it was not released until about 1970. The 1956 take was issued on a Prestige LP in the earlier 60s, still several years after McTell's death, though at the time it was not known for certain whether he was alive. As I recall, the Prestige liner notes even speculate that he was likely to turn up unexpectedly, alive and well.

Most of McTell's lyrics are lifted pretty straight from Grainger's composition, as is the minor-key melody. Although he did some revision, usually with the effect of coarsening the song a bit. I think the 'Hamilton Hotel' verse is the only one that Blind Willie actually contributed to the song. Grainger had a moralistic conclusion, which McTell has revised considerably.

By any objective standard, McTell's remake is an improvement in every respect. Some of the lyrics which are hard to understand in McTell's renditions are much clearer, BTW, on the earlier records. (At least two of the previous recordings are accessible on the redhotjazz web site.) The same is true of McTell's raggy "Razor Ball," which is very hard to understand, but the lyrics fall into shape when you listen to the earlier record by Sara Martin, from which he learned and adapted the song.

McTell says of his songs, in the Ed Rhodes recordings, "I used to jump 'em from other writers, but I'd 'range 'em up my way."