I appreciate the sentiment, truly I do. But this is not the case of folk-process at work, but clearly a transcription error. The very-low-quality recording has only one spot--the last repetition of the chorus--in which the articulation is intelligible and it is clear in that phrase that the singer is singing the word "quadroon".

It is, in my opinion, simply to far-fetched to think that the word "squadron" could migrate through English- or French- or even Amerindian language groups into a term of intimacy and endearment.

So in this particular case, I think (FWIW) the probable explanation in that a transcriber with a poor ear for the poetry involved tried without success to capture the words from the singer on a very low-quality recording, and ended up grabbing at straws lacking the necessary background.

Regards,

A