Who wrote, when and what is the current copyright staus of (is it in
the public domain)
of  a song with these lyrics:

I fell out a window
a second story window,
I caught my eyelash on the window sill
the sill
gotta catch a train,
 OH I think it's gonna rain
Oh a boy's best freind is his mother
No other


A peakin' throug the knothole in daddy's wooden leg
why do they build the shore so near the ocean
the ocean.

Who cut the sleaves out of dear old daddy'd vest,
and dug up Willy's grave to build a swerer,
a sewer.

(There's more lyrics if you need them)

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 14 Mar 2005 17:10 PST

The lyrics you provided are a variant of "Go Get The Ax":
http://www.contemplator.com/england/gogetax.html

It is a folk song (Author unknown) that dates back at least to the
early 1900s. It has been published in a collection of folk songs,
"American Songbag" collected by Carl Sandburg, as early as 1927:
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&selm=8jvrpj%24b6k%241%40news.doit.wisc.edu
http://www.ibiblio.org/keefer/g04.htm

Considering the song's age, and the fact that obviously nobody claims
authorship, I'd say that it certainly is in the public domain.

Is that what you needed to know?
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by dancingbear-ga on 14 Mar 2005 17:30 PST

Sounds good to me - thanks for the quick response- My mom sang it to
me as a kid- and I may include it in a film I am working on.
Post it as an official answer so I can rate and tip.

Dear dancingbear,

Thank you for your positive response. Here is the information I
already provided, as a full answer:

The lyrics you provided are a variant of "Go Get The Ax":

Folk Music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & America: Go Get The Ax
http://www.contemplator.com/england/gogetax.html

It is a folk song (Author unknown) that dates back at least to the
early 1900s. It has been published in a collection of folk songs,
"American Songbag" collected by Carl Sandburg, as early as 1927.

Rich Brown: "Re: Folk songs". Online posting, 2000/07/05.
<alt.usage.english> via Google Groups.
http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=de&lr=&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&selm=8jvrpj%24b6k%241%40news.doit.wisc.edu

Folk Music - An Index to Recorded Resources: G to Ged
http://www.ibiblio.org/keefer/g04.htm

Best regards,
Scriptor