I'd suspect it's old enough to have cropped up in several versions with minor variations. It probably dates back to the time before professional musicians had agents to read the words to them - hence some inevitable variability. (Although even then they may have had sweethearts to help.)

But I do remember hearing the song - more than once. It seems like it must have been mid '50s ('52 - '55 maybe?) or before. About the same era - or a little before - when Grandma's Lye Soap was a hit?

(Not that my memory is all that reliable, especially for what went on back then.)

John