"The Blue Tail Fly" or "Jimmy Crack Corn", has been around since the 1840s. It was popular as a blackface minstrel song, though it may have originated from the African-American tradition. Though the slave-narrator seems to mourn the death of his master, it has been suggested that he was deliberately negligent in his duty of keeping the dangerous blue-tail fly away from the horse. This is apparently more obvious in other versions of the song.

There are many theories about the meaning of the phrase "Jimmy crack corn", the most likely being that it refers to drinking corn whiskey.

I first heard this sung by Burl Ives. It has also been recorded by Pete Seeger (see the video response) and Big Bill Broonzy.

Lyrics and chords:
......... A
When I was young I used to wait
....... E ....................................... B7
On master and serve him his plate,
......... A
And pass the bottle when he got dry
......... B7...................... E
And brush away the blue-tail fly.
.................................... B7
Jimmy crack corn and I don't care
..................................... E
Jimmy crack corn and I don't care
..................................... A
Jimmy crack corn and I don't care
....... B7 ..................... E
My master's gone away.

And when he'd ride in the afternoon
I'd follow with a hickory broom,
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by the blue-tail fly.

One day he rode around the farm,
The flies so numerous they did swarm.
One chance to bite him on the thigh.
The devil take the blue-tail fly.

The pony jumped, he tossed, he pitched.
He threw my master in the ditch.
He died and the jury wondered why.
The verdict was - the blue-tail fly.

He lies beneath a 'simmon tree.
His epitaph is there to see:
Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie,
The victim of the blue-tail fly.

Lyrics and chords of many of my songs are no longer available, as my website has expired. I am currently posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos and those that are too long to post in full will be found here: [ Ссылка ]

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