The Blue Tail Fly
Composer:
American Traditional song
Genre: Childrens,World / Folk
Decade: before 1923
Submitted by: Russell Ambrose
Description:
From Wikipedia:
"Blue Tail Fly", "De Blue Tail Fly", or "Jimmy Crack Corn" is thought to be a blackface minstrel song, first performed in the United States in the 1840s that 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.[1] Most versions at least nod to idiomatic African English, though sanitized, Standard English versions predominate today.
The blue-tail fly mentioned in the song is probably Tabanus atratus, a species of horse-fly found in the American South.[2][3][4] As it feeds on the blood of animals such as horses and cattle, as well as humans, it constitutes a prevalent pest in agricultural regions. This species of horse-fly has a blue-black abdomen, hence the name.[3]
by: Russell Ambrose