The UWP Archive at www.leo.org/ claimed the original song was written by Moe Jaffe and Dwight Latham (whoever they may be) in 1947. However, the link doesn't seem to be valid any more. I copied the info about three years ago. Thanks for the info about Mark Twain!

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Note: most of the "folk" songs in the UWP* Database come from the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-
*UWP (University of Wisconsin Parkside, outside Kenosha)