Whether or not Martin says he made the verses up, the documented prior existence of the same verses probably overrides individual memory over a 60-year stretch. My own Dad just turned 93 - he's still mentally sharp as a tack, but it's not unheard of for him (or perhaps, for most of us) to have firm memories that drift from what actually occurred. This isn't criticism - it's the human condition.


As Stephen Winick also comments in the above-linked FB thread, MC's own sleeve notes to the song on his debut LP highlight a contrasting methodology of piecing the songs together from multiple versions.