Riturinu

What is said to be America's first native folk ballad is about one
Timothy Myrick of Springfield, Massachusetts who died of a rattlesnake
bite on August 7th, 1761. The ballad itself was serious but soon got
transformed into a comic music-hall song, in which form it rapidly
spread across the nation on the wings of this jaunty little tune. My
setting was made years ago just to fit the abilities of my school
pupils at the time. One way and another I had to keep providing new
music for them to play and their affections soon passed to something
else and I forgot all about Riturinu until a friend who had somehow
got hold of it said he and his circle had enjoyed playing it, so it
was rescued from the oblivion it perhaps deserved. But actually I
thinkit works quite well and hope you will enjoy it too. And, what is
most important: Don't never get bit by a rattlesnake!