Recorded by the SOP on 27 March 1941, in Chicago (Decca). NB that the group were out of the studio between December 1937 and March 1941, so their song list for the session need not be construed as all written specifically for the date. Bob Atcher did a cover of "Cool Water" for Okeh, 13 June 1940, months before the SOP recorded it themselves, and it must have been in circulation by then.

According to IMDb, the song is featured in Community Sing: Songs of the West, a Columbia musical short subject starring the SOP, which was filmed in mid or late 1938 and released on 2 February 1939. This suggests it was probably written sometime after Dec 1937 (the group's last date with Vocalion) but before the end of 1938.