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Shoo Fly/ Shew Fly
Old‑Time song and breakdown by Billy Reeves/Frank Campbell also claimed by T. Brigham Bishop
ARTIST: from Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Circa 1869. Collected in 1926 (Randolph)
OTHER NAMES: "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me"
RELATED TO: "The Blue-Tail Fly;" "Skip To My Lou"
PRINT SOURCES: Randolph 273, "Shoo Fly" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 190-193, "Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 55-56, "Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 388, "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" (1 text)
Roud #3433
RECORDING INFO: Uncle Dave Macon, "Sho' Fly Don't Bother Me" (Vocalion 5010, 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Shoo Fly" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Jimmy Yates' Boll Weevils, "Shoo Fly!" (Victor 21753, 1928)
Shoo Fly [Me II-Y 15] - Billy Reeves Frank Campbell
Mursell, James, et.al.(eds.) / Music Now and Long Ago, Silver Burdette, Bk (1956), p118
Spaeth, Sigmund / Read 'Em and Weep, Arco, Sof (1959/1926), p 55
Fields, Arthur; & Fred Hall (eds.) / 50 Favorite "Get Together" Songs, Piedmont Music, sof (1933), #33
White's Excelsior Method for the Guitar, White-Smith, Sof (1894), p54
Kennedy, Charles O'Brien (ed.) / Treasury of American Ballads; Gay, Naug, McBride, Bk (1954), p154 (Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me)
Home Spun Songs, Treasure Chest, Fol (1935), p31
Luboff, Norman; and Win Stracke (eds.) / Songs of Man, Prentice-Hall, Bk (1966), p180
Joyful Singing. Campfire Girls Edition, CSS, poc (1947ca), p38
Glazer, Tom / Treasury of Songs for Children, Songs Music, Fol (1964/1981), p201
Frey, Hugo(ed.) / Bill Hardey's Songs of the Gay Nineties, Robbins, Fol (1942/1938), P80 (Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me)
Herder, Ronald (ed.) / 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics, Dover dn500/500, Sof (1998), p314
Kraus, Richard / Square Dances of Today, Barnes, Bk (1950), p 85
Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Original Bogtrotters, Biograph RC 6003, LP (1968), trk# 6 [1937-42]
Burges, Cool; and Rollin Howard. Jackson, Richard (ed.) / Popular Songs of Nineteenth Century America, Dover, Sof (1976), p180 [1869] (Shew Fly, Don't Bother Me)
Crisp, Rufus. Rufus Crisp, Folkways FA 2342, LP (1972), trk# B.06c [1946]
Crisp, Rufus. Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L21, LP (196?), trk# A.01c [1946]
Devlin, Jennie Hess. Newman, Katharine D. / Never Without a Song, U. Illinois, Sof (1995), p217 [1937ca]
Garren, Alan. Songer, Susan; & Clyde Curley (eds.) / Portland Collection. Contra..., Portland Collection, Fol (1997), p184
Gaster, Marvin. Uncle Henry's Favorites, Rounder 0382, CD (1996/1994), trk# 1 (Shoefly)
Kessinger Brothers. Kessinger Brothers - 1928-30, County 536, LP (1974), trk# 2 [1930/10/30]
Macon, Uncle Dave. Classic Sides 1924-1938, JSP 7729A-D, CD( (2004), trk# B.09 [1926/09/09] (Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me)
Mainer, J. E. (Joseph Emmet). Legendary J. E. Mainer. Vol 4, Rural Rhythm RRJE 208, LP (196?), trk# A.01
Parish, Roscoe. Old Time Way, Heritage (Galax) 070, LP (1986), trk# 29 [1969ca]
Song Spinners. Johnson, Margaret & Travis (eds) / Early American Songs from ... the Spi, AMP, Fol (1943), #37
Wilbur, Marie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p352/#273 [1926/04/02]
Williams, Vivian. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p177
NOTES: D Major. Standard. AABB (Phillips): AA'BB' (Songer). The 1869 sheet credits the words to Billy Reeves and the music to Frank Campbell. Another 1869 publication gives the author as Thomas Brigham Bishop. The latter, published by Bishop himself, claims that the piece comes from "the negro farce the 'Cook.'" The corroborative evidence for the claims is thin.
WIKI: Shoo, Fly, Don’t Bother Me! has been a popular song since, at least, the 1860s. Today, it is commonly sung by children, and has been recorded on many children’s records, including Disney Children’s Favorites 3, performed by Larry Groce and the Disneyland Children’s Sing-Along Chorus.
It has been recorded that the song was written by Billy Reeves (words) and Frank Campbell (music), and sung by Bryant’s Minstrels in 1869. It is also recorded that the song, with words by Billy Reeves, was sung by Cool Burgess that same year.
The song remained popular over the decades, and was commonly sung by soldiers during the Spanish-American War of 1898, when flies and the yellow fever mosquito were a serious enemy. In the soldier’s version, after singing the famous "Shoo fly, don’t bother me" three times, the soldier would then sing, "For I belong to company G."
The song was hit for Billy Reeves in 1869. The tune was recorded for Brunswick by Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) on a 78 RPM. The title appears in list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
Typical words are: "I think I hear the angels sing (x3), The angels now are on the wing. I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star (x2)." "Shoo fly, don't bother me (x3), For I just been on a merry spree." (or "belong to Company G," or the like).
HENRY REED NOTES: "Shoo Fly" is the tune associated with the "Shoo fly don't bother me" lyrics. It has the feel of a lively dance tune in the melodic style of the later nineteenth century. One hallmark of the style is the implied chord shift from tonic to dominant at the end of the first phrase, remaining in the dominant till the cadence at the end of the second phrase. For instrumental sets of the tune, see Person, "A Collection of Popular Airs" (1889), p. 9; "White's Excelsior Collection", p. 71.
This old (1869) pseudo-minstrel song and dance from the "Cook" has evolved into childrens' songs and a gospel song. Also a fiddle piece which may pre-date the lyrics in the Bishop composition. A variant is sung at Mardi Gras time in New Orleans. Sheet music is at American Memory and also in the Duke University collection.
Here are the standard lyrics of "Shoo Fly" from Talley 1921:
SHOO FLY, DON'T BOTHER ME
Here's what I found in Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes (1949):
Three verses of the song are in a song known as "I Would Not Marry a Black Girl." The "Shoo Fly" part seems derived from the 1869 "walk around" credited to Billy Reeves and Frand Campbell and referred to by Ewen as a "blackface Reconstruction classic." It has been collected widely by folklorists...
refrain: Shoo fly! don't bother me,
Shoo fly! don't bother me,
Shoo fly! don't bother me,
I belong to the upper three.
I wouldn't marry a black gal,
I'll tell you de reason why:
When she goes to comb dat head
De nap'll 'gin to fly.
REFRAIN
I wouldn't marry a black gal,
I'll tell why I won't:
When she'd oughter wash her face -
Well, I'll jes say she don't.
REFRAIN
I wouldn't marry a black gal,
An' did is why I say:
When you has her face around,
It never gits good day.
REFRAIN
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