Thanks Barry and Kendall;

But damn Barry, you got me again ;-) I was sure I had been to Levy--it is usually my first stop now. I have now gone there and downloaded it and tried it out on the keyboard. Words are exactly the same as the version I learned from the singing of Bobby Horton,(he calls it Katy Wells) but the tune is quite different. There are similarities, but its different. Folk process at work I guess. I wonder which version you sing Kendall?

Horton too had changed the darkey line. Man, that word sure crops up in a lot of old tunes.

The words I sing were written by a goldminer in BC in 1866 when he was lamenting the loss of his Annie, who was no longer interested in him. Interestingly, he kept many of the words and phrases of Kitty Wells and enclosed them in ""quotes to show those he copied.

Thanks again

richard