Right, Kendall. I don't know if that way was original with Cowboy Copas or not, but that's who I first heard sing Alabam' somewhere about 1960 or 61.   I even had the privilege of hearing Cope do it from the stage of the Grand Ol' Opry at the Ryman. Wonderful memories. . .

It wasn't until years later when reissues of the old stuff became more common that I heard Frank Hutchison do Coney Isle. I heard that and thought, Whoaa! Cowboy Copas did a direct "lift" for Alabam'. I have not researched as to whether Coney Isle was original with Hutchison in 1927 or whether he got it from someone else, but he sure didn't sing tramp in Coney Isle.

Point is though, that back at the time we were listening to Copas, we couldn't have known the history of the song, at least most of us couldn't. Our late friend, Dr. Bill McNeil, would certainly have known, but the average person like me had to wait until the reissues came out for the light bulb to come on.

You can hear Hutchison at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdILtctzofs and Copas at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rku2HjUFqU That's especially nice, as it's a great recording of a LIVE performance, not just a recording set to pictures.