This version of the rhyme "Not Last Night but The Night Before" can be found in the preamble to Stephen King's book "The Tommyknockers". King learned the rhyme in his childhood in the US. He lived in several locations between the east coast and Chicago, so we're not sure which state he learned it in.

A Tommyknocker is a mythical creature in Cornish folklore who inhabit mines. They're gnomelike with big heads, coming in around 2 feet (.61 m) tall. They wear miner's garb and cause mischief in the mines. They also warn miners of pending disasters by knocking on the walls. Many Cornish men immigrated to California to work in the mines there. That's how tommyknockers came to be known in the US.

Late Last Night and The Night Before - (Tommyknockers) - American Children's Songs - The USA - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World - Intro Image

Notes

If anyone heard this rhyme in their youth, please email me to share where you grew up, to help us narrow where this rhyme was chanted. Thanks! Mama Lisa

Late Last Night and The Night Before - (Tommyknockers) - American Children's Songs - The USA - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World 1

Thanks and Acknowledgements

1st Image: Mama Lisa with AI

2nd Image: An Ancient Depiction of Tommyknockers, theghosthuntuk.com.