“Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss”

Description

Dance tune: "Fly around my pretty little miss/Fly around my daisy/Fly around my pretty little miss/You almost drive me crazy." Floating verses: "The higher up the cherry tree/The riper grow the cherries..." "Going to get some weevily wheat..."

Notes

My guess is that this is a modified version of "Weevily Wheat." But Paul Stamler thinks it's separate, and certainly it's picked up a lot of floating material. So we classify the two separately.

This should not be confused with Laws P18, "Pretty Little Miss." - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Weevily Wheat" (floating lyrics)
• cf. "Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle)" (floating lyrics)
• cf. "Up and Down the Railroad Track" (floating lyrics)
• cf. "Missus in the Big House" (meter)
• cf. "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17] (floating lyrics, some tunes)

Recordings

• Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1)
• Frank Bode, "Susanna Gal" (on FBode1)
• Samantha Bumgarner, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 146-D, 1924)
• The Hillbillies, "Blue Eyed Girl" (Vocalion 5017, c. 1926)
• Clint Howard et al, "Pretty Little Pink" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01)
• Buell Kazee, "Dance Around My Pretty Little Miss" [fragment] (on Kazee01)
• Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (Brunswick 464, 1930) (Supertone 9666, 1930) (one of these is on CrowTold01, but we don't know which)
• New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1)
• Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD)
• Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702)
• Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15709-D, c. 1931; rec. 1928)

References

1. Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 66, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. BrownIII 286, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (4 texts, but the "D" text is mostly "Shady Grove"); also 78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, but almost all mixed -- all except "H" have the "Coffee grows" stanza, but "A" also has verses from "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; "and "C" through "H" are mostly "Little Pink"; "B" is mixed with "Raccoon" or some such)
3. Hudson 145, p. 293, [no title] (1 fragment, the single stanza "The higher up the cherry tree")
4. SharpAp 268, "The Higher Up the Cherry Tree" (1 text, 1 tune); also 88, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune, with lyrics from "Shady Grove," "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" and "Going Across the Sea")
5. Darling-NAS, p. 254, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text)
6. Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal" (1 text)
7. DT, BLUEYEGL*
8. Roud #5720
9. BI, CSW066