When I was young I usd to wait On the master and hand him his plate; And Pass down the bottle when he got dry, And brush away the blue tail fly. refrain (repeated each verse): Jimmy crack corn and I dont care, Jimmy crack corn and I dont care, Jimmy crack corn and I dont care, My masters gone away. In the two verses that follow, the singer is told to protect his masters horse from the bite of the blue-tail fly: An when he ride in de afternoon, 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 chanced to bite im on the thigh. De debble take dat blue tail fly. The horse bucks and the master is killed. The slave then escapes culpability: De pony run, he jump an pitch, An tumble massa in de ditch; He died, an de jury wonderd why; De verdic was de blue tail fly. The references to a jury and a verdic[t] imply that the slave was criminally charged: Some sources indicate this may have referred to a coroners inquest or police investigation, but these slang terms were not used outside the context of a court proceeding at the time. They buried him neath the sycamore tree His epitaph there for to see Beneath this stone Im forced to lie The victim of a blue-tailed Fly. In the 1930s (exact dates unavailable) radio series Pinto Pete in Arizona, the following verse is added. Ol massas gone and Ill let him rest, They say all things are for the best, But Ill never forget til the day I die, Ol massa and that blue-tailed fly. Jim crack corn, I dont care (x3) Ol massas gone away
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:30:49 +0000
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