Origins: The Wagoner's Lad / Waggoner's Lad

Subject: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Craig
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 01:30 AM

I am looking for the words to this song.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Bojangles
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 02:20 AM

I recall a few words and the very pretty melody from singing the song 40 years ago.

Oh I am a poor boy, my fortune is sad I've worked all my life as a wagoner's lad. I've courted pretty Polly by night and by day, But now she is leaving and going away.

Your parents don't like me they say I'm too poor. They say I'm not worthy of entering your door. I work for my living, my money's my own, And if they dont like me they can leave me alone.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From:
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 02:23 PM

The lyrics are in the database under The Wagoner's Lad.

Joan Baez did a very nice version on one of her earlier LP's.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Richard Wright
Date: 13 Apr 98 - 12:16 PM

If you want the real scoop contact Mike Ballantyne at [e-mail]

Mike is a wealth of infor on this type of song. He has a tape out and a bbok entitled Pint, Pot and Plough with Wagoneer's Lad on it.

Cheers Richard

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Bruce O.
Date: 13 Apr 98 - 12:21 PM

"How hard is the fortune of all womenkind" The first verse of the version in DT is from Henry Carey's "The Ladies Case", c 1730. I posted Carey's song on a Women's Songs thread last fall, I think it was.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Craig
Date: 23 Apr 98 - 09:41 AM

Thanks for all your help. The version I know starts out: I know a poor girl and her story is sad. She oft times was courted by the waggoner's lad.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From: aldus
Date: 23 Apr 98 - 02:22 PM

I"m just a por girl
my story is sad
I've always been courted
By the waggoners lad.
He's courted me daily
by night and by day,
and now he is loading
and going away,

My parents don"t like him
They say he is poor,
They say he"s not worthy
to enter my door.

Oh hard is the fortune
of all womankind;
she 's always controlled.
she's always confined.
controlled by her parents
until she"s a wife,
a slave to her husband
all the days of her life.

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From:
Date: 23 Apr 98 - 11:01 PM

The earliest recording of it seems to be Breull Kazee's 1928 version on Brunswick. I have never heard it, but according to my "Anthology of American Folk Music" this version had the last verse given above as the first verse.

The writeup says Cecil Sharp collected seven versions of this song--all of them almost completely different from each other. The one they publish was collected in 1908.

Murray

Subject: Origins: The Wagoner's Lad / Waggoner's Lad
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Mar 00 - 04:10 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Wagoner's Lad, The

DESCRIPTION: Young woman is courted by wagoner's lad. Her parents don't like him because he is poor; he tells her he is self-supporting and not ashamed. He tells her he is leaving; she asks him to linger with him, but he refuses. She laments women's hard fortune
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (collected by Olive Dame Campbell; in Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians); +1907 (JAFL20)
KEYWORDS: courting love farewell parting dialog worker lyric rejection warning floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (33 citations):
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp.738-740, "The Wagoner's Lad" (2 texts, with the "A" text belonging here and the "B" text a composite of "Wagoner's Lad" and "Old Smokey" verses)
Randolph 740, "Texas Cowboy" (1 text, with much floating material but the plot seems to be here)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, pp. 22-23, "Fair U-Well-Lizza" (1 text, mostly this; the first verse might be something else but is so messed up that it's hard to tell what)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (3 texts plus 3 fragments; the texts "A"-"C" are "The Wagoner's Lad," and "D" has an associated verse, but "E" and "F" are fragments of a love song, perhaps "Farewell, Charming Nancy" or "Omie Wise," both of which have similar lyrics; "D" also shares this single verse, and "E" adds a "Troubled in Mind" chorus)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (6 tunes plus text excerpts, five of which are probably "The Wagoner's Lad" but the "E" tune is someting else)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 42, "Lamkins" (1 text, apparently a fragment of Child #93 (containing only a threat of cannibalism) plus three "My Horses Ain't Hungry" stanzas)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 272-282, "The Waggoner's Lad" (9 texts, 6 tunes on pp. 428-431, but the entry combines many songs; A (no title), B ("My Fortune's Been Bad"), and E ("My Horses Ain't Hungry") are extended versions of "The Wagoner's Lad"; C ("The Last Farewell") is a short text probably of "The Wagoner's Lad"; D ("Old Smokie") combined one "Smokey" verse with three "Wagoner's Lad" verses; "F" ("Old Smoky") is a very long "Old Smokey" text which seems to have gained parts of other songs; G ("A False Lying True Love") is "Old Smokey" minus the first verse; H ("I'll Build My Cabin on a Mountain So High" is "Old Smokey" with a first verse from a drunkard song and a final floating verse supplying the title; I (no title) is a fragment probably of "Old Smokey")
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, pp. 24-25, "I Am a Poor Girl or The Poor Girl's Warning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 44-45, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #17, "The Wagoner Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #101, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 117, "The Wagoner's Lad" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #45, "The Waggoner's Boy (The Wagoner's Lad)" (1 text, 1 tune, probably mixed)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, p. 37, "Loving Nancy" (1 text)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol1, p. 62, "Loving Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, p. 79, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson-FolkTunesFromMississippi 6, "The Wagoner Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 284-285, "Rabble Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune -- a strange version, probably composite, in which the wanderer is a "rabble soldier")
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 34, p. 49, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 fragment, probably this although it might be a "Rye Whiskey" excerpt)
Neely/Spargo-TalesAndSongsOfSouthernIllinois, pp. 243-244, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (1 text, which is probably derived from this but ends with the girl leaving home to go with him)
Lunsford/Stringfield-30And1FolkSongsFromSouthernMountains, pp. 20-21, "I'm Goin' Back to Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 112, "The Wagoner's Lad"; (1 text, 1 tune)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 30 "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 6, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune); 83, "Old Paint" (3 texts, 1 tune, of which the "C" text appears actually to be a version of this piece or perhaps "Rye Whisky")
Chase-AmericanFolkTalesAndSongs, pp. 181-182, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, p. 19, "(The Waggoner's Lad" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss-AngloAmericanFolksongStyle, pp. 38-39, "Wagonner's Lad" (1 text)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 21, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 171 "The Wagoner's Lad"; p. 174 "My Horses Ain't Hungry"; p. 186 "Hard Is The Fortune Of All Womankind" (3 texts)
Saffel-CowboyPoetry, pp. 211-213, "Jack o' Diamonds" (1 text; this particular Lomax offering contains elements of "Jack o Diamonds/Rye Whisky," "The Wagoner's Lad," The Rebel Soldier," and others)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Lattye Eunice Arnold, "A Sketch and Two Songs," Vol. VI, No. 1 (Jul 1958), pp. 17-18, "My Horses Ain’t Hungry" (1 text, 1 tune)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Charles W. Joyner, "The Repertory of Nancy Jones as a Mirror of Culture in Scotland County," Vol. XXI, No. 3 (Sep 1973), p. 92-93, "Farewell, my dear true love, I'll bid you adieu" (1 text, two verses that might be "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)" or "Rye Whiskey" or "The Wagoner's Lad" or, frankly, almost anything; there is a mention of emigration)
DT, WAGONLAD* MOONSHI2*
ST R740 (Full)
Roud #414
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Loving Nancy" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Acie Cargill, Debra Cowan, Kristina Olsen, "The Waggoner's Lad" (on HCargillFamily)
Vernon Dalhart, "My Horse's Ain't Hungry" [sic] (Edison 52077, 1927)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "My Mind is to Marry" (unissued; on StuffDreams1)
Kelly Harrell, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (Victor 20103, 1926; on KHarrell01)
Buell Kazee, "The Wagoner's Lad" (Brunswick 213B, 1928; Brunswick 437, 1930; on AAFM1) (on Kazee01)
Mr. & Mrs. John Sams, "Wagoner's Lad" (on MMOKCD)
Pete Seeger, "Fare You Well, Polly" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a);The Wagoner's Lad" (on PeteSeeger17)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Goodbye, Old Paint" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rye Whiskey" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Gambler (I)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Oh Lily, Dear Lily" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Lady's Case" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Am a Young Maiden (If I Were a Blackbird)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Rebel Soldier" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Rue and the Thyme (The Rose and the Thyme)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Farewell, Sweet Mary"
cf. "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" (theme)
cf. "Moonshiner" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Virginian Lover" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
An Inconstant Lover
I'm a Rambler, I'm a Gambler
The Rambling Gambler
NOTES [264 words]: This song, which barely qualifies as a ballad even in its full forms, has produced many non-ballad offspring, of which "On Top of Old Smokey" is the best known. Randolph apparently thinks his "Texas Cowboy" piece to be related but separate, but (based on his text) I would have to say they are the same.
It is very hard to tell certain versions of this from "Rye Whiskey"; the two have exchanged many verses. But the "core" versions seem to be distinct.
An even greater problem is posed by the relationship between this song and "On Top of Old Smoky." The two are occasionally listed as one song (e.g. by Leach); indeed, this was done in early versions of the Index. This was done under the influence of the Lomaxes, who classify the songs together.
Further study, however, seems to show that all versions which have common material are derived from the Lomaxes. The plots of the two songs are different, their tunes are distinct, and true cross-fertilization seems very rare. It would appear that the identification of the two is purely the result of the sort of editorial work the Lomaxes so often committed.
Due to this inconsistency, it is suggested that the reader check all versions of both songs, as well as both sets of cross-references, to find all related materials.
Another closely related song is "Farewell, Sweet Mary," as much as three-quarters of which may derive from this song. It has taken a slightly different direction, however, and is at least a distinct subfamily of this piece. Since it doesn't have anything about horses or wagoners, I list it separately. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: R740

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WAGONER'S LAD (DT Lyrics)

Oh hard is the fortune of all womankind
They're always controlled, they're always confined
Controlled by their parents until they're a bride
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives

Oh I am a poor girl, my fortune is sad
I have always been courted by the wagoner's lad
He courted me daily by night and by day
And now he is loaded and going away

Your parents don't like me because I am poor
They say I'm not worthy of entering your door
I work for my living, my money's my own
And if they don't like me they can leave me alone

Your horses are hungry, go feed them some hay
Come sit down beside me as long as you may
My horses ain't hungry, they won't eat your hay
So fare thee well, darling, I'll be on my way

Your wagon needs greasing, your whip's for to mend
Come sit down here by me as long as you can
My wagon is greasy, my whip's in my hand
So fare thee well, darling, no longer to stand

@pioneer @love @transportation @animal
filename[ WAGONLAD
TUNE FILE: WAGONLAD
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF

Subject: RE: The Waggoner's Lad
From:
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 04:03 PM

does anyone know where to find a banjo tab to The Waggoner's Lad played by Bert Jansch? i am ever so currious.

brynne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST,April
Date: 08 Oct 04 - 07:17 AM

Please help me with the lyrics of The Waggoner's Lad........
Pls. help me I really need it for our project in school....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: DMcG
Date: 08 Oct 04 - 07:26 AM

April: you can get the lyrics by clicking on the DigiTrad link at the top of this thread. Are you asking for something apart from the lyrics themselves, like where they came from or how they came about?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Oct 04 - 08:18 AM

April, this thread may also help with you project.

Subject: Origins: The Wagoner's Lad?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 05:45 AM

Does anyone know the origins of this song? The recordings are mostly American (Dylan, Biez, O'Brien, The Dukhs and others I'm sure), but it has the feel of an Anglo transplant somehow. I found a web reference to it originating from a Broadside Ballad, but no info to back up the claim :-(

Any thoughts most appreciated, John.

Subject: RE: Origins: Origins of The Wagoner's Lad?
From: Susan of DT
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 06:31 AM

Look at the Origins: On Top of Old Smoky thread, which is current. There is overlap between the two songs in the early versions.

And please use a name other than "Guest"

Subject: RE: Origins: Origins of The Wagoner's Lad?
From: jzm
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 06:53 AM

> Look at the Origins: On Top of Old Smoky thread,
> which is current. There is overlap between the two
> songs in the early versions.

Some maybe, it's not completely clear to me how they overlap from that thread, except that the Lomax's had them as one one song.

> And please use a name other than "Guest"

Apologies! I lost my cookie somehow, reset now.

Thanks, John.

Subject: RE: Origins: Origins of The Wagoner's Lad?
From: freda underhill
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 07:30 AM

American collection origins detailed here -
the Wagoner's lad was included by Harry Smith in his Anthology of American Folk Music , a six-album compilation of eighty-four American folk recordings issued from 1927 to 1932.

When the Anthology was recorded in mid 52s, the Wagoner's Lad was on Vol 1, ballads, a copy of the original recording from 1928, by Buell Kazee.

The link above includes words and an MP3 based on the Buell Zazee version.

Subject: RE: Origins: Origins of The Wagoner's Lad?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 02:05 PM

"Wagoner's Lad" was collected by Cecil Sharp, and published by Wyman and Brockway, 1916, "Lonesome Tunes," W. H. Gray & Co., NY.

Lyrics of "Wagoner's Lad" and other members of the "Old Smoky" complex are posted and discussed in thread 76295: Old Smoky
It is impossible to separate the songs.

Dorothy Scarborough collected and published eight North Carolina Appalachian variants of 'Wagoner's Lad' in "A Songcatcher in the Southern Mountains," 1930; the more complete are posted in the thread linked above.

The Traditional Ballad Index, copied in the linked thread, lists recordings, including the first by George Reneau, 1926.

Subject: RE: Origins: Origins of The Wagoner's Lad?
From: jzm
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 02:24 PM

Looks like I asked a dumb question: the Anthology answered the "where's it from" question very well!

Many thanks for your very patient answers, John.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Wagoner's Lad
From: Janie
Date: 21 Feb 15 - 02:59 PM

Lisa Null wrote extensively about the origins of this song for the liner notes of Peggy Seeger's Bring Me Home. http://www.peggyseeger.com/listen-buy/bring-me-home/bring-me-home-notes-text

Copying her notes, as the link will likely one day disappear.

NOTE BY ELISABETH HIGGINS NULL:


Peggy first recorded the "Wagoner's Lad" in 1955 on a Folkways album, (Folksongs of Courting and Complaint, FA 2049). That year, she also recorded a variant of the same song, "My Horses Ain't Hungry," with her brother Mike on American Folk Songs for Children, issued on Folkways (reissued Rounder 1801, 1977) and consisting of songs from Ruth Crawford Seeger's book, American folk songs for children in home, school, and nursery school : a book for children, parents, and teachers (Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1948). The countermelody that serves as a turnaround between verses on this recorded version of "My Horses Ain't Hungry" is echoed here in her solo guitar. Peggy's tune for the "Wagoner's Lad" repeats the first line twice and moves on to a related and higher third line before recapitulating the first line. This AABA pattern is structured differently than the typical ABBA pattern more widely associated with the song.

"The Wagoner's Lad" and "My Horses Ain't Hungry" belong to a larger family of tunes ranging from "Rye Whisky" to "Farewell to Tarwathie." Many of its floating verses appear in a variety of songs such as "Bachelor's Hall" or "On Top of Old Smoky." "The Wagoner's Lad" is found primarily in the United Sates although its opening verse appeared as early as 1728-1732 in a British theatrical piece "The Ladies' Case" and was later set to music by William Boyce (1711-1779), the English classical musician:

Oh Hard is the fortune of all womankind
They're always controlled, always confined
Controlled by their parents until they are wives
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives.

Bruce Olson, in a guest post on the Mudcat Café, an online folksong forum associated with the Digital Tradition, gives a partial history of the song, "Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind." He tells us it was printed in the eighteenth century and quotes the text from a single song sheet with music published in 1730. Henry Carey is credited with creating the lyrics of the verses that seem originally to have constituted the complete song:

How hard is the fortune of all womankind,
Forever subjected, forever confined,
The parent controls us until we are wives,
The husband enslaves us the rest of our lives.

If fondly we love, yet we dare not reveal,
But secretly languish, compelled to conceal,
Deny'd every freedom of Life to enjoy,
We're sham'd if we're kind, we're blamed if we're coy.

If fortune we have Oh! then we must be joyn'd,
To the Man that is by our Parents Design'd,
Compel'd for to have the Man we never see,
No matter if Ugly or Handsome he be.

Then who would be Wealthy or Strive to be great,
Since so many Dangers upon them does wait,
That Couples most happy that Love uncontroul'd,
That marries for nothing despises the Gold.

The lyrics bear the earmarks of a popular song designed for genteel company, but their sentiment has been distilled and emotionally compressed in Peggy's version. These are stylistic hallmarks of Anglo-American oral tradition. Olson also shares something about the song's printed history:

The song was printed without credits and without music in a book of 1734, 'The Vocal Miscellany', II, p. 159, and noted in a book with music, 'The Universal Musician', [1737], to have been sung by Miss Raftor (trained by Carey) at the Theatre Royal. She made her debut in 1728 and became Mrs. (Kitty) Clive in 1732. Mr. Gouge (whose first name seems to be unknown) was credited with the music in later printings, e.g., 'The Muses Delight', p. 143, Liverpool, 1754 (slightly revised and retitled 'Apollo's Cabinet', 1757). The song then can be definitely put as 1728-32. The verses here [above] are from the single sheet issue, c 1730.

Peggy's version closely resembles the seminal rendition by Buell Kazee, first recorded in 1928 (Brunswick 2138, 064); on Harry Smith's compilation Anthology of American Folk Music (3 vols., 6 LP) (FA 2951/2952/2953, 1952). Kazee's version has been covered by artists ranging from Joan Baez to Bruce Molsky.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jul 25 - 02:40 AM

The Wagoner's Lad is not to the tune of old smokey but if you listen to the words to it you know it is the same subject and story from Joe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST,The Og
Date: 23 Jul 25 - 10:02 AM

Used to sing a version inspired bt The Journeymen, sort of like this...

The Wagoner’s Lad (D)

                      D               G                              D
(unison) Hard luck is the fortune of all womankind,
                                          F#m                           Em A
They’re always controlled, they’re always confined,
                               D         F#m                  Em    A
Controlled by their parents until they are wives,
         D                     G                                     A
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives.

(harmony) I know a poor girl and her story is sad,
She oft-times was courted, by the Wagoner’s lad,
He courted her truly, by night and by day,
Now his wagons are loaded he’s pullin’ away,

       D             Gm   D             Gm
Pullin’ a-way, pullin’ a-way,
       D                G                A (Em)    D (D-G-D)
His wagons are loaded he’s pullin’ a-way.

“Well, your parents don’t like me, they say I’m too poor,
They say I’m unworthy of ent’ring your door,
I earn my own living, my money’s my own,
And them that don’t like me can leave me alone.”

He got in his wagon, his whip in his hand,
“Come sit here beside me, for as long as you can.”
“I can’t sit beside you, I can’t leave my home,”
“Then fare-thee-well, darling, I’m riding alone.”

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Jul 25 - 10:26 AM

Where does the much more upbeat "Jim the Carter Lad" come from?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Jul 25 - 10:48 AM

Jack, do you know anything about early appearances of the tune? So far as we know, does it predate the late 19th century?

The American song "Rye Whisky" and fiddle tune "Drunken Hiccups" (essentially the "Wagoner"'s tune are (unsurprisingly) not traceable before then.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Jul 25 - 03:56 PM

I only know it from one singer - I'll see him in two weeks and ask where he got it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 24 Jul 25 - 11:19 AM

The Waggoner's Lad; many recordings on YouTube   https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=The+Waggoner%27s+Lad

...and Jack Campin 's suggestion

"Jim the Carter Lad"     https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jim+the+Carter%27s+Lad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Aug 25 - 09:43 AM

I can't believe how good the song The Wagoner's Lad is. Before Cecil Sharp collected this set the words to the song we know a Scots song callwd Farewell To Talkwathy did exist before The Wagoner's Lad was first collected. That Scot's song is also still sung today and thanks you folk from Joe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Waggoner's Lad
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Aug 25 - 03:31 PM

Jim, the Carter Lad you'll find origins etc on John Baxter's Music Hall into Folk website. It was certainly sung originally by Harry Linn in the 1860s, but can't remember if he wrote it.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Wagoner's Lad / Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 26 - 07:02 AM

There are so many songs i know that are writen to the tune of the waggoners lad and have the same relation of meenings but one that shares the same tune that does not relate to the original song is cauled pinball machine. this song was written and first recorded in 1959 by a country singer called lonny irving for starday music. thanks from joe.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Wagoner's Lad / Waggoner's Lad
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 26 - 08:02 AM

The Francis Place ballad project site has some fascinating information on this, try looking under the song title ‘Gee Ho Dobbin’