What does this mean anyway? Who was Jimmy? Was he the master that “went away” or is he the narrator of this ballad or what? The most plausible meaning of “crack corn” would be that Jimmy, whoever he is, has taken to drinking corn alcohol now that the master has “gone away”. But that doesn’t answer the question of who Jimmy was. Master was the victim of the “bluetail fly” and I can well imagine that the meaning of “bluetail fly” morphed from a real fly (maybe) into a Yankee blue devil during the Civil War. But does anybody have a clue as to who Jimmy is and what “crack corn” really means?
Jimmy crack corn.
And I don’t care.
Welcome the Straight Dope Message Boards, jweiner, we’re glad to have you with us.
You might first want to read the forum descriptions. You posted this in a forum called “Comments on Staff Reports”, which is intend for comments on Staff Reports. I think you meant to post it in “General Questions” or “Comments on Cecil’s Columns,” because Cecil in fact has answered this. You’re probably saying, “Huh?” at this point. So, go to Who is Jimmy, and why does he crack corn?. You could find it yourself by going to the section of our website called “Archives” and searching on a few words (“Jimmy” and “crack” would do it).
So, welcome, and we hope that answers your question.
I’m moving this to a more appropriate forum.