The title has attracted more folklore than most. The popular reading — that "soldier's joy" was Civil War-era slang for a mixture of morphine, whiskey, and beer used by wounded soldiers — comes from lyrics set to the tune in that era ("twenty-five cents for the morphine, fifteen cents for the beer…") and survives in many sung versions. But the tune itself clearly predates the American Civil War by decades, so the morphine interpretation belongs to the song's later American life, not its origin.

Structurally it is a 32-bar tune in D, AABB form, in common time, sitting comfortably in first position on every traditional stringed instrument — part of why it travels so well. Tommy Jarrell's recording is among the most influential old-time versions; in bluegrass it has been cut by virtually every major picker at some point.