"No creature is more common in Southern English love songs than the cuckoo..." so says Alan Lomax. The Andersonville version is similar to "The Cuckoo" in Folk Songs of North America. He follows that song with another he calls "The Fourth Day of July." He credits it as song by Clarence Ashley. It was/is a popular banjo tune. I first learned it in "D Modal" tuning, better known now as DADGAD tuning. This gives it a flavor that is a mix of minor and major keys.

THE CUCKOO
The cuckoo, she's pretty bird,
She sings as she flies,
She brings us glad tidings
And she tells us no lies.

She sucks all the pretty flowers,
To make her voice clear,
And she never sings, 'cuckoo',
Till the Spring of the year.

Come all you young women,
Take warning by me,
Never place your affections,
On the love of a man.

For the roots they will wither,
The branches decay.
He'll turn his back on you,
And walk square away.

A meeting, it's a pleasure,
And a parting is a grief.
but an inconstant lover,
Is worse than a thief.

A thief he'll but rob you,
And take what you have,
While an inconstant lover,
Will lead you to your grave.

The grave will decay you,
And turn you to dust,
Not a man in ten thousand,
That a poor girl can trust.

He'll hug you and kiss you,
And call you his own,
Perhaps his other darlin'
Is a-waitin' at home.


THE FOURTH DAY OF JULY
O, the cuckoo is a pretty bird,
She wabbles as she flies,
She never hollers 'Cuckoo'
Till the Fourth Day of July.

CHO:
And I see, and I see, and I see,
On the Fourth Day of July.

Gonna build me a castle,
On the mountains so high,
So I can see Willie,
As he goes on by.

I often have wondered,
What makes women love men.
Then I've looked back and wondered
What makes men love them.

Jack o'Diamonds, Jack o'Diamonds,
I know you of old,
You robbed my poor pockets,
Of silver and gold.

Definitely two related songs. I would be curious if movie reconstructed the song, or if it was collected from the prison camp. Lomax says the banjo was primarily a post-Civil War instrument, so I suspect the movie people "imposed" their own folk process.

Roger in Baltimore