The Tune Wranglers recorded I'LL BE HANGED IF THEY'RE GONNA HANG ME. Their recording is on an album called "1936-1938" (Krazy Kat Records CD #28, 2000). I transcribed this from a sample at Allmusic.com:


...When they asked me if I'd like to go in swimmin',
I said no, I'd much prefer to skip the rope.

Now for twenty-seven days I've been in prison
Just for doing something that I didn't do.
I wrote ev'ry friend I had outside of prison
"Won't you kindly send a saw and see me through."

Now I'll be hanged it they're gonna hang....


The Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries says:

I'LL BE HANGED IF THEY'RE GONNA HANG ME
w and m Charlie McCarthy, John Redmond and Samy Mysels.
New York: Joe Davis, Inc., © Mar. 16, 1936.


Indiana University gives this catalog information:

Title: I'll be hanged
Title: If they're gonna hang me
Composer: McCarthy, Charles
Composer: Redmond, John
Composer: Mysels, Sammy
Publisher: Joe Davis, Inc.
Place of publication: New York
Date of publication: 1936
Call Number: M1 .D48 Box: 195 Item: 028
Performance Medium: Piano and Voice (with lyrics)
First Line: I was standin' by a bank in Arizona, and I never thought
Chorus First Line: I'll be hanged, if they're gonna hang me, if they do
Genre: Popular song
Subject term: Prison/Jail/Convicts/Crime/Jury


The Online 78-rpm Discography Project says it was recorded by

The Tune Wranglers, 1936
Zora Layman & the Homesteaders, 1937
The Prairie Ramblers with Patsy Montana, 1938