I definitely did that, though having no particular talent for composition I often realized later that I had adapted a tune I already knew. (Once at show-and-tell I brought in The Patchwork Girl of Oz and belted out my version of a song she sang, of which I retain not a vestige, though at one time I had it memorized.) I do remember being thoroughly delighted to discover that we had a book of folksongs that included "Men of Harlech," and went about singing it as loudly as possible in my inglorious non-tenor. ("She's so noisy," said my long-suffering elder siblings. "Yes, but it's a happy noise," said my parents. You can see why I felt some kinship with Julia Redfern.)
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