What would have been the longest folk song recorded would certainly be the Original Woody Guthrie song, "Ruben James." However, there are conflicting reports that the original, in which every member of the crew was named, was recorded. It is well documented that the shorter version of the song that became popular by the Almanac Singers caused some disagreement by Woody.

It should also be noted that the one mentioned above did not have the Joe Hellerman ending - that came later.

Examples of a shortened version of the original version are:

There's Harold Hammer Beasley, a first rate man at sea
From Hinton, West Virginia, he had his first degree.
There's Jim Franklin Benson, a good machinist's mate
Come up from North Carolina, to sail the Reuben James.

Dennis Howard Daniel, Glen Jones and Howard Vore
Hartwell Byrd and Raymond Cook, Ed Musselwhite and more
Remember Leonard Keever, Gene Evans and Donald Kapp
Who gave their all to fight about this famous fighting ship.

Ant there were 86 killed. There has also been speculation that Woody also wanted the rest of the crew mentioned,