Spaw and Larry,

I can't be of any help to Mary because the versions I am familiar with are those by Carson and Dalhart. However, I can add a little background to these for future reference purposes.

Spaw is right in saying that Carson was the first to record the piece. It was perhaps the first 'hillbilly' song to be actually commissioned by a record industry executive. Up to that point, the 'hillbillies' had brought in their traditional songs for recording.

Polk Brockman was director of the phonograph department of his father's furniture store in Atlanta. Brockman had been the catalyst in Ralph Peer recording Fiddlin' John Carson for Okeh and thereby inaugurating the development of country music as a commercial entity. In February 1925, Collins died in the sandstone wormhole. At the time, Brockman was in Florida. He telegraphed his friend Andrew 'Blind Andy' Jenkins, newspaper seller/revivalist preacher, in Atlanta, asking him to compose a Collins ballad.

Evidently, Jenkins took 45 minutes to compose the 'tragedy song' with his stepdaughter, Irene Spain, scoring the music and sending the text and tune to Brockman. Irene later recalled that, if she had sensed that it was destined to become a national hit, she would have added 'a few grace notes to colour its melodic simplicity'. Fiddlin' John Carson recorded it for Okeh on 14 or 15 April 1925, within 2 months of Collins' death. Brockman paid $25 for it.

The Carson recording sold only slowly, but Brockman was convinced of its commercial potential. He sold the song to Frank Walker, the A&R man in New York for Columbia. Vernon Dalhart recorded it on 27 May 1925 (Columbia 15031-D) under the pseudonym Al Craver, mentioned above. He recorded it again in September for Victor which issued it coupled with 'The Wreck of the Shenandoah'. The song became immensely popular and spawned recordings, which took on local colourings, under a variety of titles all across the country. I recall reading somewhere that there were about 40 recorded versions.

Spaw has linked to Gene's posting of the Jenkins original. Neither Carson nor Dalhart recorded the complete text - indeed, they omitted the same stanzas. There are only minor differences in the text of Carson's recordings and Dalhart's Victor recording. Here is how Carson recorded it:

THE DEATH OF FLOYD COLLINS
(Rev Andrew Jenkins/Mrs Irene Spain)

Come all you young people
And listen while I tell
The fate of Floyd Collins
A lad we all knew well
His face was fair and handsome
His heart was true and brave
His body now lies sleeping
In a lonely sandstone cave

How sad, how sad, the story
It filled our eyes with tears
This memory too will linger
For many, many a year
A broken-hearted father
Who tried his boy to save
Will now weep tears of sorrow
At the door of Floyd's cave.

Oh mother don't you worry
Dear father don't be sad
I'll tell you all my troubles
In an awful dream I had
I dreamed that I was prisoner
My life could not be saved
I cried, Oh must I perish
Within this silent cave?

The rescue party they gathered
They laboured night and day
To move the mighty barrier
That stood within the way
To rescue Floyd Collins
This was their battle cry
We'll never, no we'll never,
Let Floyd Collins die

But on that fatal morning
The sun rose in the sky,
The workers still were busy
We'll save him by and by.
But oh how sad the ending
His life they could not save
His body then was a-sleeping
In a lonely sandstone cave

Young people all take warning
It is for you and I
We may not be like Collins
But you and I must die
It may not be in a sand cave
In which we find our tomb
But at the mighty judgment
We too must meet our doom

Source: transcription of Fiddlin' John Carson 'The Death of Floyd Collins' OK 40363. Recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, on 14 or 15 April 1925. Reissued on Fiddlin' John Carson 'Complete Recorded Works Vol II' Document DOCD- 8015

Here is a version by Dalhart. No recording detail is given with the source CD, but it seems to be the 9 September Victor recording in inferior sound to that reissued on 'Native American Ballads' (RCA LPV-548) in Victors wonderful RCA Vintage Series of LPs:

THE DEATH OF FLOYD COLLINS
(Rev Andrew Jenkins/Mrs Irene Spain)

Oh come all you young people
And listen while I tell
The fate of Floyd Collins
A lad we all know well
His face was fair and handsome
His heart was true and brave
His body now lies sleeping
In a lonely sandstone cave

How sad, how sad, the story
It fills our eyes with tears
The memory too will linger
For many many years
A broken-hearted father
Who tried his boy to save
Will now weep tears of sorrow
At the door of Floyd's cave

Oh mother don't you worry,
Dear father don't be sad I'll tell you all my story
In an awful dream I had
I dreamed I was a prisoner My life I could not save I cried, Oh must I perish Within this silent cave?

The rescue party laboured
They worked both night and day
To move the mighty barrier
That stood within the way
To rescue Floyd Collins
This was their battle cry
We'll never, no we'll never,
Let Floyd Collins die

But on that fatal morning
The sun rose in the sky,
The workers still were busy
We'll save him by and by
But, oh how sad the ending
His life could not be saved
His body then was sleeping
In the lonely sandstone cave

Young people all take warning
From Floyd Collins' fate And get right with your maker
Before it is too late
It may not be a sand cave
In which we find our tomb
But at the bar of judgment We too must meet our doom

Source: transcription of Vernon Dalhart 'The Death of Floyd Collins' reissued on Vernon Dalhart 'Hall of Fame, Inducted 1981' King KSCD-3820. Recording details not given.

--Stewie.