“The Blue-Tail Fly”

Description

A young slave is made into a household servant, with the particular task of keeping away the (stinging) blue-tail flies. One day the master goes out riding; a fly stings his pony; the master is thrown and dies.

Supplemental text

Blue-Tail Fly, The [Laws I19]
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

Jim Crack Corn

From sheet music published by F. D. Benteen. The sheet music is on
two pages rather than the usual four, and has no title page, merely
a heading
THE VIRGINIA MINSTRELS
         No. 5
    "JIM CRACK CORN"
 or the Blue Tail Fly
   Composed for the
      PIANO FORTE

When I was young I us'd to wait
On Massa and hand him de plate;
Pass down de bottle when he git dry,
And bresh away de blue tail fly.

   CHORUS.
Jim crack corn I don't care,
Jim crack corn I don't care,
Jim crack corn I don't care,
Ole Massa gone away.

   2.
Den arter dinner massa sleep,
He bid dis niggar vigil keep;
An' when he gwine to shut his eye,
He tell me watch de blue tail fly.
   Jim crack corn &c.

   3.
An' when he ride in de arternoon,
I follow wid a hickory broom;
De pony being berry shy,
When bitten by de blue tail fly.
   Jim crack corn &c.

   4.
One day he roade aroun' de farm,
De flies so numerous dey did swarm;
One chance to bite 'im on the thigh,
De debble take dat blu (sic) tail fly.
   Jim crack corn &c.

   5.
De poney run, he jump an' pitch,
An' tumble massa in de ditch;
He died, an' de jury wonder'd why
De verdic was de blue tail fly.
   Jim crack corn &c.

   6.
Dey laid 'im under a 'simmon tree,
He epitaph am dar to see:
'Beneath dis stone I'm forced to lie,
All be de means ob de blue tail fly.*
   Jim crack corn &c.

   7.
Ole massa gone, now let 'im rest,
Dey say all tings am for de best;
I nevver forget till de day I die,
Ole massa an' day blue tail fly.
   Jim crack corn &c.


* There is no indication of where the quote closes.

Notes

Sometimes credited to Dan Emmett (e.g. by Spaeth), and one of the earliest publications was in a series credited to him -- but the absence of his name on the earliest copies goes far toward discrediting his authorship. - RBW

The subtext for this song is that the slave in fact killed the master himself, blaming it on the blue-tail fly. This is hinted at, to varying degrees, in some versions of the song. -PJS

Cross references

• cf. "Shoo Fly" (chorus)

Recordings

• Bob Atcher, "Blue Tail Fly" (Columbia 20538, 1949)
• Doc Hopkins, "The Blue Tailed Fly" (Radio 1410A, n.d., prob. late 1940s - early 1950s)
• Bradley Kincaid, "The Blue Tail Fly" (Majestic 6010, 1947)
• Pete Seeger, "Jim Crack Corn" (on PeteSeeger03, PeteSeegerCD03); "The Blue Tail Fly" (on PeteSeeger17)
• Riley Shepard, "The Blue Tail Fly" (King 523, 1946)

References

1. Laws I19, "The Blue-Tail Fly"
2. BrownIII 414, "Jim Crack Corn" (1 text plus 2 mixed fragments and 2 excerpts)
3. Friedman, p. 453, "The Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text)
4. Lomax-FSNA 267, "The Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. RJackson-19CPop, pp. 91-92, "Jim Crack Corn or the Blue Tail Fly" (1 text, 1 tune)
6. Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 201-203, "De Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text plus some fragments, 1 tune); also p. 190, (no title) (1 fragment, with a verse of "The Jaybird" and the chorus of this piece); also p. 224, (no title) (1 short text, with the "Jim crack corn" chorus and the "My ole mistus promised me" verse)
7. Arnett, p. 66, "Jim Crack Corn (Blue-Tail Fly)" (1 text, 1 tune)
8. Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 709, "The Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text, 1 tune)
9. PSeeger-AFB, p. 12, "The Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text, 1 tune)
10. Silber-FSWB, p. 30, "The Blue-Tail Fly" (1 text)
11. Fuld-WFM, p. 312, "Jim Crack Corn"
12. cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 477, "The Blue-Tailed Fly" (source notes only)
13. DT 669, BLUETAIL
14. ST LI19 (Full)
15. Roud #4185
16. BI, LI19