Joe/Tattie,

That's some interesting detail. I just listened to several recordings of the song. In early Paxton recording he sang both "get so---ber" and "start o--ver", but in more recent recordings (2000's recordings) he would sing "sta---art over". He did not pause before "over", but sang "start" long.

The hit version of the song, by the Fireballs, was done the same way Paxton did: "so---ber" and "o--ver". That is also how Doc Watson did it. So did Judy Collins.

The earliest version with "sober" and "over" syncopated, that I can find, was by John Denver with The Mitchell Trio. It was from early 1967, not long after Paxton wrote the song. I think it can be found on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ThYWdkpms. I also found a similar version by The Kingston Trio, but I don't know if it's earlier than Denver's version.

Jason