# Jimmy Crack Corn

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-crack-corn/315076>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 1, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-crack-corn/315076 "2005-08-01T03:32:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jbmusicman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@jbmusicman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbmusicman)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-crack-corn/315076/1 "2005-08-01T03:32:34Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-crack-corn/315076/2 "2005-08-01T12:32:10Z")

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Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, **jbmusicman** , we’re glad to have you with us.

When you start a thread, it’s helpful to others if you provide a link to the column you’re discussiong. In this case: [Who is Jimmy, and why does he crack corn?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981030.html)

The link keeps us on the same page (so people don’t spout forth theories already accepted or rejected by Cecil) and saves searching time. No big deal, you’ll know for next time… and, as I say, welcome!