My mom use to sing it this way

How well do I remember The night that Willie died
It was early in the morning Late at night
The cows were singing sweetly The birds were eating hay
Sun and moon and stars Were shining dark and light

It was the 43rd of May when our Willie passed away
He died harder than he ever died before
He was sitting in a chair but he didn't like it there
So he got up and he died upon the floor

You could tell that he was dying by the color of his breath
You could see the wreaths circling in his blood
And the doctor said the only way to save the boy from death
was to stop the circulation of the blood

So we filled him up with glue and we hoped to bring him to
But we only brought him eight, or nine or ten
So we laid him on his side and he blew his nose and died
Then he sneezed, and blew his nose and died again.