Q, I double-checked that Lingenfelter-Dwyer tune, and it's exactly what's found in their two songbooks. Sounds to me like the key signature or accidentals are wrong, but that's what's in their books. Maybe it's not wrong - maybe it just takes some getting used to, since we're so familiar with the Lomax tune.
The tune from Lomax is almost the same as what's in the DT, but I think I'll post it for completeness. The Lomax lyrics have been postedabove - mostly, but not completely.
-Joe Offer-

The Days of '49 (Lomax)

I'm old Tom Moore from the bummer's shore,
In the good old golden days,
They call me a bummer and a gin-sot too,
But what cares I for praise?
I wander around from town to town.
Just like a roving sign,
And the people all say, "There goes Tom Moore
Of the days of Forty-Nine."

CHORUS: In the days of old, in the days of gold,
How oftimes I repine—
For the days of old when we dug up the gold
In the days of '49.

2. My comrades, they all loved me well,
A jolly saucy crew,
A few hard cases I will admit,
Though they were brave and true;
Whatever the pinch they ne'er would flinch,
They never would fret or whine—
Like good old bricks, they stood the kicks
In the days of '49.

3. There was old Lame Jess, a hard old cuss,
Who never did repent;
He never was known to miss a drink
Or ever spend a cent;
But old Lame Jess, like all the rest,
To death he did resign
And in his bloom went up the flume
In the days of '49.

4. There was Poker Bill, one of the boys,
Who was always in for a game,
Whether he lost or whether he won,
To him it was all the same;
He would ante up and draw his cards
He would go you a hatfull blind,
In the game with death Bill lost his breath
In the days of '49.

5. There was New York Jake, the butcher's boy,
He was always getting tight;
And every time that he'd get full
He was spoiling for a fight;
Then Jake rampaged against a knife
In the hands of old Bob Sine;
And over Jake they held a wake
In the days of '49.

6. There was Ragshag Bill from Buffalo,
I never will forget,
He would roar all day and roar all night
And I guess he's roaring yet;
One night he fell in a prospect hole
In a roaring bad design;
And in that hole he roared out his soul
In the days of '49.

7. Of all the comrades that I've had
There's none that's left to boast;
And I'm left alone in my misery
Like some poor wandering ghost;
And as I pass fmm town to town
They call me the rambling sign—
"There goes Tom Moore, a bummer shore,
Of the days of '49."

CHORUS: In the days of old, in the days of gold,
How oftimes I repine—
For the days of old when we dug up the gold
In the days of '49.

Source: Lomax & Lomax, Best Loved American Folk Songs

---

Click to play