(Don't know why my "s" is missing twice up there)

Ah! thanks, Bob. That makes sense. So that's what that phrase after each line is -- a banjo line.
My man played banjo, but his wife also played piano to accompany him.

The "Jim/Jimmy Crack Corn" version is the more likely one, I agree. It is more tuneful -- same as "Early in the Morning" the words of which are sometimes mixed up with it.

Problem is I can't actually find a reference to "Jim crack corn" in connection with Lincoln. If the early minstrels were singing the Oliver Ditson version -- just who WAS singing the other one?
Cheers, Joy