Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss- Version 17

Frank Proffitt

Traditional Old-Time Breakdown; North Carolina- USA; Widely spread.

DATE: 1909 transcription of Kelley Harrell 'Charley He's a Good Ol' Man' recorded on 12 August 1927 in Charlotte NC and issued in January 1928 as Victor 21069. Reissued on Kelly Harrell 'Complete Recorded Works Vol 2 1926-1929' Document DOCD-8027.

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: ‘Wheevily Wheat” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss;” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” "Susannah Gal," "Blue Eyed Miss." “Fly Around My Pretty Little Pink”

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 part of the large Western Country family of songs that inclueds “Four in the Middle," "Pretty Little Pink" and “Wheevily Wheat.” The Coffee lyric places it more in the “Wheevily Wheat" lyric branch.

 Here are the lyrics from Frank Proffitt: 

FLY AROUND MY PRETTY LITTLE MISS-  Proffitt, 1959 
Warner II. 46.  [NB: Tray card incorrectly says 40] 

Fly around pretty little miss 
Fly around my daisy 
Every time I see that girl 
She almost drives me crazy 

If I had a horse to ride 
I’d be found a-crawling 
Up and down this rocky road 
Searching for my darling 

Every time I go up that road 
Looking mighty cloudy 
Every time I see that girl 
She always hollers howdy