Thanks for posts. I also like the Fess Williams, as I say elsewhere, maybe on the Belden/Unfortunate Rake thread.

Harwood suggests that the cannonball line may be a 'corruption' (my word not his) of 'bar-room brawl'. Fairly good idea, I think.

I am noting how 'floating verses' or 'floating lines' crop up both in US blues and English folk music. It seems to have been a standard thing, rather like they say some musical improvisers draw on a repertoire of micro bits for their solos.

I've heard the Whitey Kaufman; Harwood mentions it. Whitey Kaufman most probably was Jewish: he certainly copyrighted a piece called Yiddish Lullabye with Roy Reber (listed as composer of Charleston Cabin) and George Peace (I have a book called 'Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish by Jack Gottlieb). Now this is where it gets really multi-cultural. Listen to the tune of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSU0UG4VSEI


There is more discussion of this here:

https://nonotes.wordpress.com/2006/03/24/charleston-cabin-a-fresh-mystery/

You may know all this, I'm sure somebody will have been through it all on these threads before. Enjoy!