"Salty Dog" is an old black blues adapted to mountain style. There is a large pool of verses and most singers choose their favorites for their personal version. In some cases being a "salty dog" is a euphemism for oral sex. Recordings date from at least 1924 by Papa Charlie Jackson and subsequently by the Morris Brothers (the source for the New Lost City Ramblers), Flatt and Scruggs (1950), Blind Willie McTell (1956), Mississippi John Hurt (1963), the New Lost City Ramblers and Johnny Cash (2003). Others who have performed or recorded the song include Jelly Roll Morton, Lead Belly, Bo Carter, Reverend Gary Davis, Ricky Nelson, the Kingston Trio, Roger McGuinn, Hot Tuna and Leon Redbone. The song appears in a 1963 episode of The Andy Griffith Show, "The Darlings Are Coming", featuring The Dillards. In the show the band is called the Darling family and performs a rendition of "Salty Dog" with Andy Griffith on guitar. I learned it first from Flatt and Scruggs and later with guitar and mandolin by the New Lost City Ramblers.