The song was collected by Phil Thomas ,collector of Bc folk songs. He collected it from the man who composed it, Luigi Del Puppo, who was in jail at the time.
Phil Thomas was an academic of great integrity and full of respect for the people from whom he collected. Phil Thomas himself changed some of the lyrics to make the song more palatable to the larger audience . Luigi del Puppo’s lyrics contained some unsavoury references and inferences. I heard the original recording and Phil explained what changes he made as well as slowing the tempo down a bit. But he never laid claim to the song.
I was a great fan of Utah Phillips back in the day. Loved his music! But for him to claim authorship of the song is arrogant and self righteous.
If I changed the chorus of ‘ Hey Jude’ to hey dude and added a verse to the lyrics and then said the song was mine and I wrote it I’d be sued so fast my head would spin right off. Because Del Puppo was a virtual unknown from the ‘backwoods’l of Bc of the 1950’s Utah Phillips could get away with it. Needless to say I lost respect for Utah Phillips after that. In the end he was no different from any other arrogant performer.
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