Composer[]
I've removed the song box, barring more concrete information, since music, lyrics, and date are all in question (looking at the history, I created this back in 2006, but can't find the initial source; possibly the All Music Guide, which perpetuates the claim, but it seems questionable).
The song has an almost ancient history, and it's difficult to trace exactly who was responsible. Sammy Cahn certainly wasn't, despite the ASCAP registration. For example, the same record shows up here giving credit to Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette.Now, the song was definitely a standard by 1934, appearing that year in the film In Old Santa Fe. Smiley Burnette was in that movie, and quite a few sources (including the official Smiley Burnette history site) claim he wrote it. It's looking to me, however, like several folks who recorded a version, and tailored the lyrics slightly, registered it in their own name.
Now, several music history books (some outdated, from the 50s and 60s) do claim Davenport wrote music and lyrics. The earliest known incarnation was "Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hanging Around," and the books claim Davenport wrote it in 1929 (he also took credit for songs like "I"ll Be Glad When You're Dead, You," which he didn't.) Looking further, the earliest known recording was in 1928, by Riley Puckett, and I've found newspaper advertisements from that year to confirm, but it seems to predate that as well (the Allen brothers made it a hit in 1930, but again, that definitely predates the writing career of Cahn, and probably Burnette). In fact, the melody is more than slightly similar to "Froggy Went A Courtin'." A version of the song seems to have been reworked for a mayoral campaign in 1909 by WH Handy, but he didn't originate it either.
A folksong site here notes one version from 1925, but variations of that one earlier by Charlie Jackson are significantly different despite slight lyrical and melodic similarties. Some historians seem to think it's Appalachian (several North Carolina history books mention it). The American Folklore Society has been studying this since at least 1965(!) it seems, but members arrived at conflicting conclusions.
So at this point, it seems best to consider it just another "old-time folk song." -- Andrew Leal (talk) 05:48, 20 September 2008 (UTC)