Back in the 60s when I first heard "Fixin' to Die Rag," the melody was immediately familiar, but I didn't know it by the title "Muskrat Ramble." Perhaps Joe McDonald thought the same thing that I did ~ that the melody was old/traditional/anonymous/public-domain.

Of course, that was back before I first visited New Orleans, where I would stay for the reat of my life, and where I gradually accumulated a bit of knowledge concerning the early days of jazz. Now I know the title, and that Kid Ory was the composer.