Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn)

 "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue-Tail Fly" is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s through performances by the Virginia Minstrels. It regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the beginning of the American folk music revival and has since become a popular children's song. Over the years, several variants have appeared.

Most versions include some idiomatic African American English, although General American versions now predominate. The basic narrative remains intact. On the surface, the song is a black slave's lament over his white master's death in a horse-riding accident. The song, however, is also interpreted as having a subtext of celebration about that death and of the slave having contributed to it through deliberate negligence or even deniable action. 

"De Blue Tail Fly" was published by both Keith's Music House and Oliver Ditson in Boston in 1846, but Eric Lott (citing Hans Nathan) gives the version a date of 1844. This probably refers to Christy's Minstrels' Ethiopian Glee Book, which has sometimes been mistakenly attributed to 1844; in fact, that series did not begin publishing until 1847 and did not include Christy's version of this song until its 1848 edition. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics: 

chorus:

Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care
Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care
Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care
Master’s gone away

verses:
When I was young I used to wait
On master, handing him his plate
I brought his bottle when he got dry
And brushed away the blue tail fly

He used to ride each afternoon
I'd follow with a hickory broom
The pony kicked his legs up high
When bitten by the blue tail fly

The pony run, he jump, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
My master died and who'll deny
The blame was on the blue tail fly

We layed him under a simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie
A victim of the blue tail fly"

Old master's dead and gone to rest
They say all things is for the best
I won't forget until I die
My master and the blue tail fly

The skeeter bites right through your clothes
A hornet strikes you on the nose
The bees may get you passing by
But, oh, much worse, the blue tail fly 

Bingo Was His Name-O

 “Bingo Was His Name-O” is an English language children’s song without a clear origin.

The song is sung and includes the omission of certain letters in the lyrics, replaced by hand claps or barking.

The earliest known reference to any aspect of the song comes from the title of a piece of sheet music published way back in 1780. That attributed the song to William Swords, an actor a the Haymarket Theatre of London.

Early versions of the tune were called “The Farmer’s Dog Leapt o’er the Stile” “A Franklyn’s Dogge” or even “Little Bingo.”

An early transcript of the song, sans title, dates back to 1785, and the songbook The Humming Bird, which reads:

The farmer’s dog leapt over the stile,
his name was little Bingo,
the farmer’s dog leapt over the stile,
his name was little Bingo.
B with an I — I with an N,
N with a G — G with an O;
his name was little Bingo:
B—I—N—G—O;
His name was little Bingo.

The farmer loved a cup of good ale,
he called it rare good stingo,
the farmer loved a cup of good ale,
he called it rare good stingo.
S—T with an I — I with an N,
N with a G — G with an O;
He called it rare good stingo:
S—T—I—N—G—O;
He called it rare good stingo

And is this not a sweet little song?
I think it is —— by jingo.
And is this not a sweet little song?
I think it is —— by jingo.
J with an I — I with an N,
N with a G — G with an O;
I think it is —— by jingo:
J—I—N—G—O;
I think it is —— by jingo.

Later Versions of Bingo

A similar transcription to the above dates back to 1840 as part of The Ingoldsby Legends.

The transcribing for that is credited in part to Mr. Simpkinson from Bath. That version drops several of the repeated lines found in the above 1785 version and the newer ones used more archaic spelling.

The first line reads, “A franklyn’s dogge” rather than “The farmer’s dog.”

Another version, similar to the Ingoldsby offering, is also known from 1888, though it has some different spelling variations.

The song’s presence was known in the United States, noted by Robert M. Charlton in 1842.

English folklorist Alice Bertha Gomme recorded eight different forms of the song in 1894.

Highly-differing versions were recorded in Monton, Shropshire, Liphook and Wakefield, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, and Endborne. All of these were associated with children’s games, with slightly different rules, depending on the locale.

Early versions of the song were also said to be adult drinking game songs.

Variations of the tune’s lyrics include the dog belonging to a miller or a shepherd. Sometimes the dog is named Bingo, other times Pinto.

In some versions, a variation of the third stanza is added to read:

The farmer loved a pretty young lass,
and gave her a wedding-ring-o.
R with an I — I with an N,
N with a G — G with an O;
(etc.)

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-I-N-G-O
(clap)-I-N-G-O
(clap)-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
And Bingo was his name-o.

Billy Boy

 "Billy Boy" is a traditional folk song and nursery rhyme found in the United States, in which "Billy Boy" is asked various questions, and the answers all center on his quest to marry a girl who is said to be too young to leave her mother.

It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 326. It is a variant of the traditional English folk song "My Boy Billy", collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and published by him in 1912 as number 232 in Novello's School Songs. 

The nursery rhyme, framed in question-and-answer form, is ironic and teasing in tone:

Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

Oh, where have you been, Charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife, she's the joy of my whole life

But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother

The narrative of the song has been related by some to "Lord Randall", a murder ballad from the British Isles, in which the suitor is poisoned by the woman he visits.

By contrast, Robin Fox uses the song to make a point about cooking and courtship, and observes:

Feeding has always been closely linked with courtship […] With humans this works two ways since we are the only animals who cook: the bride is usually appraised for her cooking ability. (“Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy boy, Billy boy?”) In some cultures this is far more important than her virginity.

In the traditional last verse of the song, Billy Boy is asked how old the girl is. While his answer is convoluted, it reveals an age that is old and not young, adding to the irony and humor of the song.

The song was also parodied in 1941 by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in an anti-war protest song of the same name. 

A line from the song was used as the title for Henry Jaglom's 1983 film Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, which concerns a middle-aged New York City musician who, after being dumped by her husband, develops a relationship with a middle-aged divorced social worker. The song "Billy Boy" is also performed in the film.

In the 1948 Walt Disney film So Dear to My Heart, Burl Ives performs snippets of the song throughout the movie.

In the 1981 movie Bill, both Bill and Barry play and sing the song. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

1. Oh where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
Oh where have you been, charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife. She’s the joy of my life.
She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

2. Did she ask you to come in, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she ask you to come in, Charming Billy?
Yes, she asked me to come in, There’s a dimple in her chin.
She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

3. Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
She can make a cherry pie, Quick as a cat can wink an eye,
She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

Big Rock Candy Mountain

 "The Big Rock Candy Mountains", first recorded and copyrighted by Harry McClintock in 1928, is a country folk song about a hobo's idea of paradise, a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne. It is a place where "hens lay soft-boiled eggs" and there are "cigarette trees". McClintock said that he wrote the song in 1895, based on tales from his youth hoboing through the United States while working for the railroad as a brakeman. It is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 6696. 

The song was first recorded by McClintock, also known by his "hobo" name of Haywire Mac. McClintock said that he wrote the song, though it was likely partially based on other ballads, including "An Invitation to Lubberland" and "The Appleknocker's Lament". Other popular itinerant songs of the day such as "Hobo's Paradise", "Hobo Heaven", "Sweet Potato Mountains", and "Little Streams of Whiskey" likely served as inspiration, as they mention concepts similar to those in "Big Rock Candy Mountain".

Before recording the song, McClintock cleaned it up considerably from the version he sang as a street busker in the 1890s. Originally the song described a child being recruited into hobo life by tales of the "big rock candy mountain". In later years, when McClintock appeared in court as part of a copyright dispute, he cited the original words of the song, the last stanza of which was:

The punk rolled up his big blue eyes
And said to the jocker, "Sandy,
I've hiked and hiked and wandered too,
But I ain't seen any candy.
I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore
And I'll be damned if I hike any more
To be * * * * * * * *
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

 The lyrics of the missing line have not been made public; in the released version the entire verse was omitted.

The song was not popularized until 1939, when it peaked at #1 on Billboard magazine's country music charts. But it achieved more widespread popularity in 1949 when a sanitized version intended for children was re-recorded by Burl Ives. It has been recorded by many artists throughout the world, but a version recorded in 1960 by Dorsey Burnette to date was the biggest success for the song in the post-1954 "rock era", having reached No. 102 on Billboard's chart.

The most famous version has this refrain:

Oh, the buzzin' of the bees in the cigarette trees
The soda water fountain
Where the lemonade springs and the bluebird sings
In that Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Sanitized versions have been popular, especially with children's musicians; in these, the "cigarette trees" become peppermint trees, and the "streams of alcohol" trickling down the rocks become streams of lemonade. The lake of whiskey becomes a lake of soda pop. 

Folklorist John Greenway published the song in his American Folksongs of Protest (1953), redacting only the second to last line. Bowdlerized versions are included in Irwin Silber's Songs of the Great American West (1967) and Alan Lomax's The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs (1964).

A folk version of the song is included in the Gordon "Inferno" Collection in the Library of Congress, under the title "The Appleknocker's Lament". 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hikin'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains."

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines everyday
All the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew
And of whiskey too
You can paddle all around them
In a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handled shovels
No axes, saws, or picks
I'm going to stay
Where you sleep all day
Where they hung the Turk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you all this coming fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Bicycle Built For Two (Daisy Bell)

"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" is a song written in 1892 by British songwriter Harry Dacre with the well-known chorus "Daisy, Daisy / Give me your answer, do. / I'm half crazy / all for the love of you", ending with the words "a bicycle built for two". The song is said to have been inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, one of the many mistresses of King Edward VII.^[1][2] It is the earliest song sung using computer speech synthesis by the IBM 704 in 1961, a feat that was referenced in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 

"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs:^[3]

When Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged import duty. His friend William Jerome, another songwriter, remarked lightly: "It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty." Dacre was so taken with the phrase "bicycle built for two" that he soon used it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence. Tony Pastor was the first to sing it in the United States. Its success in America began when Jennie Lindsay brought down the house with it at the Atlantic Gardens on the Bowery early in 1892.

The song was originally recorded and released by Dan W. Quinn in 1893.

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer - do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for two. 

Alouette

 "Alouette" (pronounced [alwɛt]) is a popular Quebecois children's song, commonly thought to be about plucking the feathers from a lark. Although it is in French, it is well known among speakers of other languages; in this respect, it is similar to "Frère Jacques". Many US Marines and other Allied soldiers learned the song while serving in France during World War I and took it home with them, passing it on to their children and grandchildren. 

The song's origin is uncertain, but the most popular theory is that it is French-Canadian. It was first published in A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College (Montreal, 1879). Canadian folklorist Marius Barbeau thought that the song came from France, though the first printed copy in France came 14 years after the original Canadian (McGill) publication.

The Canadian theory links the song to the North American French fur trade. Canoes were used to transport trade goods in exchange for furs through large trade routes consisting of interconnected lakes, rivers, and portages in unknown of present-day Canada and United States. The songs of the French fur trade were adapted to accompany the motion of paddles dipped in unison. Singing helped to pass the time and made the work seem lighter. In fact, it is likely that the Montreal Agents and Wintering Partners (precursor to the North West Company of fur traders) sought out and preferred to hire voyageurs who liked to sing and were good at it. They believed that singing helped the voyageurs to paddle faster and longer. French colonists ate horned larks, which they considered a game bird. "Alouette" informs the lark that the singer will pluck its head, beak, eyes, wings and tail. En roulant ma boule sings of ponds, bonnie ducks and a prince on hunting bound. Many of the songs favoured by the voyageurs have been passed down to the present era.

"Alouette" has become a symbol of French Canada for the world, an unofficial national song. Today, the song is used to teach French and English-speaking children in Canada, and others learning French around the world, the names of body parts. Singers will point to or touch the part of their body that corresponds to the word being sung in the song.

Ethnomusicologist Conrad LaForte points out that, in song, the lark (l'alouette) is the bird of the morning, and that it is the first bird to sing in the morning, hence waking up lovers and causing them to part, and waking up others as well, something that is not always appreciated. In French songs, the lark also has the reputation of being a gossip, a know-it-all, and cannot be relied on to carry a message, as it will tell everyone; it also carries bad news. However, the nightingale, being the first bird of spring, in Europe, sings happily all the time, during the lovely seasons of spring and summer. The nightingale (i.e., rossignol) also carries messages faithfully and dispenses advice, in Latin, no less, a language that lovers understand. LaForte explains that this alludes to the Middle Ages, when only a select few still understood Latin. And so, as the lark makes lovers part or wakes up the sleepyhead, this would explain why the singer of "Alouette" wants to pluck it in so many ways if he can catch it, for, as LaForte notes, this bird is flighty as well.

The lark was eaten in Europe, and when eaten was known as a "mauviette", which is also a term for a sickly person. 

The tune has been used in Season 3 of the television series Evil, possibly because the dark side of the lyrics could be seen as demonic influence/possession for the psychiatrist, a recurring character played by Kurt Fuller.

In the 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon "The Two Mouseketeers" (which was the 65th Tom and Jerry short), Jerry's friend Nibbles makes a ham sandwich while singing "Alouette" to himself. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

French translation

Refrain

Alouette, gentille alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.

1.

Je te plumerai la tête. ×2

Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

2.

Je te plumerai le bec. ×2

Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

3.

Je te plumerai les yeux. ×2

Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

4.

Je te plumerai le cou. ×2

Et le cou!  ×2
Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

5.

Je te plumerai les ailes. ×2

Et les ailes!  ×2
Et le cou!  ×2
Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

6.

Je te plumerai les pattes. ×2

Et les pattes!  ×2
Et les ailes!  ×2
Et le cou!  ×2
Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

7.

Je te plumerai la queue. ×2

Et la queue!  ×2
Et les pattes!  ×2
Et les ailes!  ×2
Et le cou!  ×2
Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

8.

Je te plumerai le dos. ×2

Et le dos!  ×2
Et la queue!  ×2
Et les pattes!  ×2
Et les ailes!  ×2
Et le cou!  ×2
Et les yeux!  ×2
Et le bec!  ×2
Et la tête!  ×2
Alouette!  ×2
A-a-a-ah

Refrain

English translation

Refrain

Lark, nice lark,
Lark, I will pluck you.

1.

I will pluck your head. ×2

And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

2.

I will pluck your beak. ×2

And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

3.

I will pluck your eyes. ×2

And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

4.

I will pluck your neck. ×2

And your neck!  ×2
And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

5.

I will pluck your wings. ×2

And your wings!  ×2
And your neck!  ×2
And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

6.

I will pluck your legs. ×2

And your legs!  ×2
And your wings!  ×2
And your neck!  ×2
And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

7.

I will pluck your tail. ×2

And your tail!  ×2
And your legs!  ×2
And your wings!  ×2
And your neck!  ×2
And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain

8.

I will pluck your back. ×2

And your back!  ×2
And your tail!  ×2
And your legs!  ×2
And your wings!  ×2
And your neck!  ×2
And your eyes!  ×2
And your beak!  ×2
And your head!  ×2
Lark!  ×2
O-o-o-oh

Refrain