Burl Ives - Blue Tail Fly Lyrics

"I've heard it said
That this song was a favourite
Of that very famous and great American
Abraham Lincoln"

When I was young, I used to wait
On master and give him his plate
And pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue tail fly

Jimmy, crack corn, 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

And when he'd ride in the afternoon
I'd follow after, with a hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by blue tail fly

Jimmy, crack corn, 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

One day, he ride around the farm
The flies so numerous, they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The devil take the blue tail fly

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

The pony run, he jumped, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue tail fly

Jimmy, crack corn, 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

They lay him under a 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone, I'm forced to lie
Victim of the blue tail fly"

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