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Blue-Eyed Gal/Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
ARTIST: Recording by Samantha Bumgarner;
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s DATE: 1924
RECORDING INFO: Samantha Bumgarner, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 146, 1924) Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15709-D, c. 1931) Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927); Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702); Blackard, Dad;'s Moonshiners. It'll Never Happen Again. Old Time String Bands, Vol. 1, Marimac 9110, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Blevins, Frank; and His Tarheel Rattlers. Ballads and Breakdowns of the Golden Era, Columbia CS 9660, LP (196?), cut#B.06 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Original Bogtrotters, Biograph RC 6003, LP (196?), cut# 11; Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Cedar Point String Band. Cedar Point String Band, Roane, Cas (1993), cut# 11 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockram, Grover. Old Five String, Vol 2, Heritage (Galax) 052, Cas (1991), cut# 6 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 5 (Susannah Gal); Crisp, Rufus. Rufus Crisp, Folkways FA 2342, LP (1972), cut#A.02 (Blue Eyed Gal); Douglas, Wilson. Boatin' Up the Sandy, Marimac AHS 1, Cas (1989), cut# 3 (Blue Eyed Miss); East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Feldmann, Peter. How to Play Clawhammer Banjo, Sonyatone STI-104, LP (1975), cut# 10 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Gaskin, Phyllis. Mountain Dulcimer - Galax Style, Heritage (Galax) 094C, Cas (1991), cut# 8 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Vol.II, Bay 103, LP (197?), cut# 3 (Susannah Gal); Herald Angels. You've Been a Friend to Me, Herald Angels HA1001, Cas (1994), cut# 18 (Fly Around); Hicks, Buna. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol II, Folk Legacy FSA-023, LP (1965), cut# 18 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hillbillies. Fiddlers Convention in Mountain City, Tennessee, County 525, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Blue Eyed Gal) ; Honig, Peter. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), cut# 36 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Part 1, Folkways FA 2355, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Iron Mountain String Band (Galax). Music from the Mountain, Heritage (Galax) 101C, Cas (1992), cut# 5 (Old Time Flyin' Around); Jarrell, Tommy; and Kyle Creed. June Apple, Mountain 302, LP (1972), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Kazee, Buell. Buell Kazee, June Appal JA 0009, LP, cut# 6a (Blue Eyed Gal); Kazee, Buell. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 3/3, p34 (Pretty Little Miss); Kimble Family. Pine Knots School Rowdies, Marimac 9037, Cas (1992), cut# 14 (Susannah Gal); Kincaid, Bradley. Bradley Kincaid. Volume 2, Old Homestead OHCS 155, LP (1984), cut#A.06 (Pretty Little Pink); Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), cut#A.01 (Fly Away My Pretty Little Miss); Lundy, Emmett. Fiddle Tunes from Grayson County, String 802, LP (1977), cut# 17 (Susannah Gal); Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Appalachian Minstrel, Washington VM 736, LP (1956), cut#B.02 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Mabus, Joel. Clawhammer, Fossil, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Pretty Little Pink); Michael, McCreesh & Campbell. Host of the Air, Front Hall FHR-023, LP (1980), cut# 3 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Mill Run Dulcimer Band. Sunday at the Mill, Lark LRLP 3094, LP (1980), cut#A.01; Moore, Charlie. Charlie Moore Sings Good Bluegrass, Vetco LP 3011, LP (196?), B.01 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 3, Folkways FA 2398, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p 66 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Old Reliable String Band. Old Reliable String Band, Folkways FA 2475, LP (1963), cut#A.01 (Fly Around); Old Virginia Fiddlers. Old Time Fiddle, Patrick County, VA, County 201, LP (1977), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Pegram, George; and Parham, Red (Walter). Pickin' and Blowin', Riverside RLP 12-60, LP (195?), cut# 9 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Piney Creek Weasels. Squirrel Heads and Gravy, Hay Holler HHH-1101, CD (1996), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Powell, Dirk. Hand Me Down, Rounder 0444, CD (1999), cut# 5; Price, Truman; and Jane Keefer. Songs and Tunes of the Oregon Trail, True West TW C-21, Cas (1991), cut# 13; Ramsey, Obray. Obray Ramsey Sings Folksongs from the Three Laurels, Prestige International INT 13020, LP (195?), cut#B.03 (Shady Grove); Reed, Ola Belle. Ola Belle Reed, Rounder 0021, LP (1973), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Russell Family. Old Time Dulcimer Sounds from the Mountains, County 734, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Old Susannah); Sexton, Lee "Boy". Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.62 (Fly Around); Shelor Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), cut# 11 (Jaybird Died with the Whooping Cough); Smith, Hobart. Banjo Songs, Ballads and Reels from the Southern Mountains, Prestige International INT 25004, LP (196?), cut# 15 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Smith, Hobart. Southern Journey. Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns, Rounder 1702, CD (1997), cut#17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Stoneman, Ernest; and the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers. Day in the Mountains, County 512, LP (196?), cut# 7e (Possum Trot School Exhibition) ; Ward, Wade. Uncle Wade. A Memorial to Wade Ward, Old Time Virginia Banjo ..., Folkways FA 2380, LP (1973), cut# 2; Whitetop Mountain Band. Seedtime on the Cumberland. Sampler 1990-91, June Appal JA 0067C, Cas (1992), cut# 1 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702);
OTHER NAMES: “Blue-Eyed Girl,” “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss;” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” "Susannah Gal," "Blue Eyed Miss." “Fly Around My Pretty Little Pink”
RELATED TO: “Shady Grove,” “Weevily Wheat" (floating lyrics); "Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle)" (floating lyrics); "Up and Down the Railroad Track" (floating lyrics); "Missus in the Big House" (meter). Say, Darling, Say ; Where Are You Going; Washing Mama's Dishes; Black Jack Davy; (Tune); Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees; Daisy; Shady Grove;
SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 66, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; Darling-NAS, p. 254, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss"; Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal"; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: This is a version of "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" sometimes titled "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal/Girl." In this case Bumgarner shorted the title to "Blue-Eyed Gal."
The song is composed of floater verses from songs like “Shady Grove,” “Weevily Wheat" and other play-party songs. It's known as a driving fiddle/banjo tune.
BLUE-EYED GAL- Samantha Bumgarner
Chorus: Fly around, my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my daisy;
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Dam' near drive me crazy.
Verse: The higher up on the cherry tree
The riper grows the cherry
More you hug and kiss the gals
Sooner you will marry. Chorus:
Verse: Blue-eyed gal won't marry me
Brown-eyed gal won't have me;
If I can't have the gal I want
Single I will tarry. Chorus:
Verse: Eighteen horses in my team
Leader he is blind;
Everywhere I drive that team
Pretty gal on my mind. Chorus:
Verse: Possum up in a 'simmon tree
Raccoon on the ground;
Possum up in a 'simmon tree
Shakin' 'simmons down. Chorus:
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