dorareever, as I recall, the friend who introduced me to this song did not present it as "traditional."  He has it on a CD [probably The Mollys], but the terms "chucky" [hooker] and saying that someone "is her mother's darlin'" are [or used to be], he says, common colloquial phrases.

Two questions come to mind, then:

• Are the lyrics that MMario and Sorcha posted above transcriptions written by someone who just wrote what they thought they were hearing [cf. all the threads on  Mondegreens], or are they lyrics printed in the CD liner notes?

• Even if they are from liner notes, is it possible that they were either "cleaned up," as MMario suggests, for public consumption, or even, perhaps themselves the product of a third party hired to put together liner lyrics from listening to the CD?
 

I ask these Qs, because I think the story loses a lot of its spark when substitute "he once sat as a jockey for his pay"  [which begs the question, "So what does that have to do with the story?] for "he once said [told her], as a chucky for his pay ...".

Also, I've heard the song on my friend's CD, and it sounds to me like they're singing "chucky," not "jockey."

Genie