To: Larry Saidman ... You are indeed posting on the correct thread. And you raise the perfect questions ... who taught it to who, how and when. I've wondered about this for many years. This is what the "folk process" is all about ... it's a perfect example. All I can add to this discussion is to mention again, that my great Uncle "Alan" sang me that version on his front porch in Skidmore, MO, in the summer of 1955.

I don't suppose we'll ever really know the perfect answers to the background to this song. But what I would have everyone to notice is the strong feelings that this version reflects:

"I WONDER WHERE MY POOR JESSIE'S GONE,
I WONDER WHERE MY POOR JESSIE'S GONE,
WILL I MEET HIM IN THAT LAND, WHERE I'VE NEVER BEEN BEFORE,
I WONDER WHERE MY POOR JESSIE'S GONE."

bob(deckman)nelson