This song was on a 78 rpm record that we bought, along with the windup Victrola, in 1928, so I can guarantee it was written and recorded before that. I don't know the name of the singer or the Brand of the record, but I think "Hobo Billy" was on the other side. As a child I probably played it hundreds of times between 1928 and 1937 and had it pretty well memorized. It did not include several verses included in the several later versions offered above. Some of the verses that were added later include:

"--I could be a broker", this one is not in the original song, for obvious reasons, since it was recorded before 1929. And "I could be a soldier", which I suspect somebody wrote around WWII (There was no draft in 1928). There was no "accountant" verse in the original version. It did include two verses not in the above later adaptations. These are:

Now I could be a fireman
But they don't use 'em in Heaven
And anyhow I never could sing
The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven

This verse was probably omitted in the later versions because by then most or all trains were diesel instead of coal-burning, and did not have firemen shoveling coal into the fire. Listeners would be confused, trying to connect their image of a fireman (firefighter on a fire engine) with the song about a train wreck.

The other original verse omitted in these later adaptations is:

Oh I could be a millionaire
And eat 'til I got fat
But then I'd lose my girlish form
And Oh, I wouldn't like that

The "doctor" verse was originally:

Oh I could be a doctor
My duties I never would shirk
But if I'd stop to treat a cop
He'd never go back to work

Both these verses may have been omitted or revised in later versions because they could be offensive to certain listeners, or politically incorrect.

The "tenor" verse starts

Oh I could be a tenor
And maybe sing high "C"

Other minor variations that have been made in these later versions include the first line and title. Instead of "You wonder why I'm a hobo", the title and first line of the original version was "You ask me why I'm a hobo" and also in the first verse the original version was "Now I could eat out o' dishes, it's just a matter o' choice ---"


Regarding the note from Joe Offer, yes, you're right. The name of the original song was "You Ask Me Why I'm a Hobo" and that is also the first line of the first verse, repeated in the last verse.

Sandy seems to remember the old recording about right. Probably the same record we had, and the one Sam says he learned it from..

Obviously various performers have added their own verses since 1928, and there's nothing wrong with their doing that, a natural desire to individualize their version of it. It is a very easy song to make up new verses for. Almost any one of us could easily make up new verses ad infinitum. But those later additions were not in the original song. This song was definitely representative of a specific time period, and that is lost with the addition of the later verses. It would sure be a good thing if the Library of Congress could get the original recording, instead of the much later one. Unfortunately, after 75 years and a jillion moves, all our old 78 rpm records are long gone.