Blue Tail Fly

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"Blue Tail Fly", "De Blue Tail Fly", or "Jimmy Crack Corn" is a blackface minstrel song, first performed in the United States in the 1840s, which remains a popular children's song today.

Over the years, many variants of text have appeared, but the basic narrative remains intact. On the surface, the song is a black slave's lament over his master's death. The song, however, has a subtext of rejoicing over that death, and possibly having caused it by deliberate negligence.^{[#endnote_subtext]} Most versions at least nod to idiomatic African American English, though sanitized, grammatically "correct" versions predominate today.

The blue-tail fly of the song is probably a Southern variant of the horsefly, which feeds on the blood of animals such as horses and cattle, as well as humans, and thus constitute a prevalent pest in agricultural regions. Some horseflies have a blue-black abdomen, hence the name.

Contents

1 Lyrics
2 History and interpretation
3 Notes
4 References

Lyrics

One early version set the idyllic (yet ironic) scene thus:

When I was young A us'd to wait

On Massa and hand him de plate;

Pass down the bottle when he git dry,

And bresh away de blue tail fly.

refrain (repeated each verse):

Jim crack corn — I don't care,

Old Massa gone away.

Two further verses show the singer being told to protect his master's horse from the bite of the blue-tail fly:

An' when he ride in de arternoon,

I foiler wid a hickory broom;

De poney being berry shy,

When bitten by de blue tail fly.

One day he rode aroun' de farm,

De flies so numerous dey did swarm;

One chance to bite 'im on the thigh,

De debble take dat blu tail fly.

The horse bucks and the master is killed. The slave then escapes culpability:

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.

The reference to a "jury" and a "verdic[t]" does not indicate that the slave was charged with any crime. It refers instead to a coroners jury into the death.

History and interpretation

Differing sources date it from 1844 ^{[#endnote_Lott-date]} or 1846 ^{[#endnote_other-date]} and differ as to who wrote it; one early printing attributed it to Dan Emmett. ^{[#endnote_Emmett]} At the time, though, it was commonplace for the recorder of a folk song to take credit. It has also been conjectured that it might not have been originally a blackface minstrel song, and might have genuine African American origins. ^{[#endnote_AA]} Unlike many minstrel songs, "Blue Tail Fly" was long popular among African Americans, and was recorded by, among others, Big Bill Broonzy. A celebrated live version was recorded by Burl Ives. ^{[#endnote_Broonzy]} Another popularizer was the folk singer Pete Seeger.

There has been much conjecture over the meaning of "Jimmy Crack Corn and I don't care". One possibility is "gimcrack corn", cheap corn whiskey; another related theory is that it refers to "cracking" open a jug of corn whisky; another is that "crack-corn" is related to the (still-current) slang "cracker" for a rural Southern white. ^{[#endnote_crack]} Another, and possibly the most popular, is that the chorus refers to an overseer who, without the master, has only his bullwhip to keep the slaves in line. Most etymologists support the first interpretation, as the term "cracker" appears to predate "corncracking", and "whipcracker" has no historical backing. ^{[#endnote_wordorigins]} This suggests that the chorus means the slaves are making whiskey and celebrating.

Notes

↑ "The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English Speaking World", edited by Albert B. Friedman, cited at "[Jimmy Crack…]" on mudcat.org.
↑ Lott, 1993, 177
↑ Multiple citations on pdmusic.org, and at Mudcat.org. [De Blue Tail Fly] [Jim Crack Corn…] [Lyr Add…] [Jimmy Crack…]
↑ "[Lyr Add…]", on Mudcat.org.
↑ Ron Sweetman, [Big Bill Broonzy in France and England] on Jazzhouse.org. Accessed 10 Sept 2005.
↑ "[Jimmy Crack…]" on Mudcat.org.
↑ "[Lyr Add…]", "[Jimmy Crack…]", both on Mudcat.org.
↑ [Word Origins: Letter C].

References

[De Blue Tail Fly], a version attributed to C.H. Keith (on pdmusic.org). Accessed 10 Sept 2005.
[Jim Crack Corn; or, The Blue Tail Fly], a version attributed to Dan Emmett (on pdmusic.org). Accessed 10 Sept 2005.
[The Blue-Tail Fly] a shortened, 20th century version. Accessed 10 Sept 2005.
Lott, Eric (1993). Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019509641X.
[Lyr Add: (De) BLUE TAIL FLY] discussion on Mudcat.org gives several variants of title and lyrics, early publication information; its links include numerous other discussions of the song. Accessed 10 Sept 2005.
[Jimmy Crack Corn - Man or Myth] discussion on Mudcat.org includes discussion of lyrics, cites further sources. Accessed 10 Sept 2005.

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