Here is rather different version, from a typescript, ca. 1955, no attribution:

In the evening by the moonlight, you can hear those darkies humming;
In the evening by the moonlight, you can hear their banjos strumming;
How the old folks would enjoy it, they would sit all night and listen,
As we sang in the evening by the moonlight.

In the evening by the moonlight, there are silver voices singing;
There are lights among the shadows, where the fireflies are a-winging;
From the old plantation cabins, you can hear the banjos ringing,
As we sing in the evening by the moonlight.