I know that the song “Jimmy Crack Corn” has been discussed before, but am I the only person that thinks that this song describes the murder of a master by a slave?
Here are the words:
When I was young I used to wait
On master and hand him his plate
Pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue-tail fly
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
My master’s gone away
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
When he would ride in the afternoon
I’d follow him with my hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by the blue-tail fly
Chorus
One day he rode around the farm
Flies so numerous that they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The devil take the blue-tail fly
Chorus
Well the pony jumped, he start, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue-tail fly
Chorus
Now he lies beneath the 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
“Beneath this stone I’m forced to lie
The victim of the blue-tail fly”
It certainly seems to me that a little whack with the hickory broom would send that skittish horse into a frenzy - and when you have been stuck with the demeaning job of following this jerk around with his private bottle of liquor while he lords over his chattle, the opportunity seems almost to good to pass up. Verse three sounds like testimony to the coroner’s jury - no doubt presented with a solemn demeanor and all due sincerity. The tone of the chorus is downright gleeful - no doubt about it,he really don’t care! And the rather smug comment about the jury wondering “why” and delivering up the deliciously ironic “blue tailed fly” verdict (what else could they say?) rather seals it in my mind. I like to think of the perpetrator visiting that grave and having a good chuckle over the epitaph.