Jolson had nothing to do with it. They put his name on it so he could get a slice of the money. A fact filtered through movies:

In the movie Funny Lady, Billy Rose admits to wife Fanny Brice that the shadow in the song was Nicky Arnstein, Fanny's criminal husband before Rose.

Makes it a bit more ominous, doesn't it.

It charted three times in 1927; these two versions show the breadth of 20s pop music.

Johnny Marvin:

Nat Shilkret did a version - and Johnny Marvin sung this one too:

Johnny died of dengue fever. (It's bad.)