I've enjoyed reading all of this about "Sassafras" and thought I'd put in my oar. I was in a group in 1965-1966 called The Firelight Singers. We did the song on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, taped in August of 66 and shown in September. We had 90 seconds to do the song. Being young and inexperienced, we doubled the speed to get the whole thing in.
We lost to a tap dancer dressed like Mr. Potato-Head.
Thanks for the word on the composer. I still the sing the song and want to include it on my next CD.