If anyone is still listening, I am happy to report "Our Own Boys' Songster" from 1876 has been located. It is in the Library of Congress in the collections of the American Folklife Center, as part of a special "songster" file. A songster in this context refers to a small pamphlet or booklet, often cheaply printed, containing mainly the lyrics of songs, sometimes with musical notation, jokes, theatrical sketches, etc.

After several years of inquiry to the LC cataloging and reference staff who searched the stacks to no avail, I went to the American Folklife Center on a hunch. There I was able to find this booklet with the excellent help of Folklife Center staff, Jennifer Cutting and Stephen Winick.

The lyrics consist of three verses plus the chorus, and the verses contain the basic core of the story that appear in most variants. The title is "Dunderbeck's Machine. By Ed. Harrigan." Ed. Harrigan is Edward Harrigan, q.v. at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Harrigan

Also noted is the "Air--'Thomas's Machine.' "    I would guess Thomas's Machine is similar to the Gambolier tune that many have mentioned and that I was familiar with, but I would love to know more, a topic for further study.

The lyrics are largely similar, tho hardly identical, to the words that I learned as a boy from my father, who learned it in the 1920s and '30s as a Boy Scout in Brooklyn, N.Y. However, they are written in what was meant to pass for a German accent.

[transcription]
Dere vas a good old German man,
His name vas Dunderbeck,
He vas very fond of poodle dogs
Und sour krout und spec;
He had a great big butcher shop,
Der nicest ever seen,
He got him out a patent, boys,
To make sausages by steam.

                CHORUS
Den oh, Mister Dunderbeck,
    How could you be so mean?
You vas sorry you invented
    Dat wonderful machine;
Den pussy cats and long tail rats,
    No more dey will be seen,
You grind dem up to sausage meat,
    By Dunderbeck's machine.

De odder day a little boy
He come into de store,
He vant a pound of head cheese
Dat vas walking round de floor;
Und vhile he vas a-standing dere
He whistled up a tune,
Dem sausages began to dance
And jump around der room.
                                              Den oh, etc.

Now something vas der matter,
Dat machine it wouldn't go,
So Dunderbeck he crawled insite
To find dat out, you know;
His wife she took de nightmare,
Und went walking in her sleep,
She gave that crank one awful yank,
Und Dunkerbeck vas meat.
                                                Den oh, etc.

The publication is "Our Own Boys Songster," New York: Robert M. De Witt, 1876. De Witt claims the copyright. This is the earliest appearance in print of the Dunderbeck song that anyone has found reference to. Edward Harrigan was a prolific author of songs over a long Broadway career, and barring evidence to the contrary, it is likely that he wrote this one, too.

I have several pictures taken with a cell phone camera of the cover, title page, Dunderbeck lyrics, and other pages of "Our Own Boys" and I will be happy to forward them if you contact me at < azansvan AT yahoo.com> .

A. H. Haeberle