"On Springfield Mountain" or "Springfield Mountain" (

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

G16) is an American

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

which recounts the tragic death of a young man who is bitten by a

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

while mowing a field. Historically, the song refers to the death of Timothy Merrick, who was recorded to have died on August 7, 1761, in

Wilbraham, Massachusetts Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprise ...

snakebite A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may ...

. It is commonly included in collections of American

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has bee ...

, and is one of the earliest known American ballads. The ballad has been cited as representative of

elegiac verse The elegiac couplet or elegiac distich is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, adopted the same form in Lat ...

tradition which later gained status as folklore throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Due to its popularity, there exist many variations of the ballad and its narrative. Although the song is now accompanied by its own distinct melody, early performances of the ballad were sung to other airs, including "

Old Hundredth "Old Hundredth" (also known as "Old Hundred") is a hymn tune in long metre, from the second edition of the Genevan Psalter. It is one of the best known melodies in many occidental Christian musical traditions. The tune is usually attributed to ...

" and "Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife".

Historical basis

Research efforts by several local historians have uncovered biographical and historical context surrounding the incident. Charles Merrick claimed

to be the site of the 1761 snakebite fatality. Chauncey Peck's 1913 ''History of Wilbraham'' relates that it occurred "70 to 90 rods southwest of the boy's home," placing it within current-day Hampden borders. There exists some disagreement among folklorists with regards to the ballad's lyrics. Scholar Phillips Barry did not believe the ballad to predate 1825; Tristram Coffin later rejected this claim as short-sighted, and held that the ballad might be derived from older elegiac verse about the incident. Other authors note that no written versions were found until 1836 (or 1840, with melody).

Variants and adaptations

The events related in the lyrics have been adapted outside of song, including stage performances and other ballads that include embellished details of the event. Alternative titles include "Ballad of Springfield Mountain",''New York Folklore'' Vol. 14, 1988, p. 123 "The Springfield Ballad", "On Springfield Mountains", "The Pizing Sarpent", "The Pesky Sarpent", "Stuttering Song", "The Story of Timothy Mirick", and "Elegy on a/the Young Man Bitten by a Rattlesnake". In variations which feature the character Timothy Mettick, his name is occasionally spelled "Mirick" or "Myrick". One "entirely serious" version was recorded by George Brown from Mr. Josiah S. Kennison of Townshend, Vermont, and published in ''Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads'' in 1931.

Lyrical variations

"Molly type" version

In one variation of the ballad published in Flanders's ''The New Green Mountain Songster'' and collected by C.M. Cobb, it is sung with melisma on the last syllable of each verse, which is drawn out over two nonsense

diphthongs A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

vowels. In addition, this variation features a four-bar refrain at the end of each verse. This later development of the ballad uses characters Tommy Blake and Molly Bland in place of Timothy and Sarah. Molly attempts to suck out the poison and dies in the process.

Woody Guthrie version

The song has also found popularity outside of New England folk tradition. Folk singer

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...

, who claimed his mother sang it to him as a child,{{cite journal , jstor=538806 , title=Woody Guthrie and His Folk Tradition , author=Reuss, Richard A. , journal=The Journal of American Folklore , date=Jul–Sep 1970 , volume=83 , issue=329 , pages=284, doi=10.2307/538806 covered the song with

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occas ...

Cisco Houston Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston (August 18, 1918 – April 29, 1961) was an American folk singer and songwriter, who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of traveling and recording together. Houston was a reg ...

, and Bess Hawes on the album Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs. This rendition incorporated nonsense lyrics into each verse line.

References