Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series that showcases the song "Wenzile" by the South African Gospel choir Joyous Celebration.
This post presents selected examples of most of the comments from that video's discussion thread that are posted to date about the custom of a large number of concert attendees recording Gospel concerts with their cell phones.*
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/joyous-celebration-wenzile-video-lyrics.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I presents the official YouTube music video of the Gospel song "Wenzile" as sung by Joyous Celebration. The lyrics of that song are also included in this post along with selected comments from the official YouTube video of this song.
The content of this post is presented for religious, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composer/s of this song and all those associated with Joyous Celebration. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
*Note that I have read similar comments about this custom in some other discussion threads of contemporary African music - a particular discussion thread of South African House music comes to mind. I'm documenting the comments from this Joyous Celebration's discussion thread for socio-cultural purposes and I believe that I've added comments about this custom from the above mentioned House music discussion thread- if not other discussion threads. I'll add a link to that pancocojams post when I remember which post it is :o)
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (Live)
JoyousVEVO [no YouTube publishing date given, but based on comments, this video was published on YouTube in 2018]
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
2018
1. Daniel Aron
"people are busy on shooting videos instead of celebrating and dancing, this is too bad for you fellows, you are crowded around the stage only for shooting😢😢"
**
2. Noxolo Kahlana
"their outfits are everything... WoW... i will never get how people can worship and still film with their phones at the same
time... I'll never get it..."
**
REPLY
3. Milly Badze
"Noxolo Kahlana i never get the phone thing too it boggles my mind!!"
**
4. king Robertson
"Instead of enjoying the show people use they phones"
**
REPLY
5. Aron Ramusi
"reason I don't enjoy live shows anymore 😠"
**
REPLY
6. king Robertson
"Aron Ramusi even me finished with live shows"
**
REPLY
7. Bianca Dax
"They recording for us to enjoy like this"
**
8. Fresh Adu
"I love Joyous Celebration very much and i admire the audience when watching their music videos. But this audience🤔... Thought this song should have swept them off their feet!! Didn’t see much of audience involvement.
Song is still my favorite in 22 but not this audience."
****
2019
9. Bangla Desh
"People are just standing there with their phones and not dancing? But why? Let the memory be in your head, not your phone."
**
10. Boitumelo Makubate
"the crowd did not do this song justice they standing busy wit the 4fons
-snip-
4fons= phones"
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Translate
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (video, lyrics, & comments)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series that showcases the song "Wenzile" by the South African Gospel choir Joyous Celebration.
Part I presents the official YouTube music video of the Gospel song "Wenzile" as sung by Joyous Celebration. The lyrics of that song are also included in this post along with selected comments from the official YouTube video of this song.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/comments-from-discussion-thread-of.html for Part II documents comments from the discussion thread for that YouTube video about the custom of a large number of concert attendees recording the concert with their cell phones.
The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composer/s of this song and all those associated with Joyous Celebration. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
****
LYRICS- WENZILE
Wenzile okuhle kodwa
(English meaning: He has done only great things)
Empilweni yami yonke
(English meaning: Throughout my life)
Malibongwe, malibongwe
(English meaning: Bless His Name)
Oh Malibongwe igama leNkosi
(English meaning: Oh bless the name of the Lord)
Wezwa ukukhala kwami
(English meaning: He heard my cry)
Wangikhipha obishini olunzima
(English meaning: You took me out of a deep miry clay)
Wangibeka edwaleni
(English meaning: You placed me on a Rock)
Wangishiya neculo elisha
(English meaning: He left me with a new song)
-snip-
These lyrics were posted in this embedded video's discussion thread by Edwin Alubale, 2018.
The original language used for this song is Zulu.
Here's another comment from that discussion thread with the words in Swahili (posted by Bezalel Mwandete, 2018)
"SWAHILI
Ametenda mambo makuu maisha yangu yote.....
libarikiwe libarikiwe jina la Bwana
amesikia kilio changu
kanitoa matopeni
kaniweka mwambani
kanipa wimbo mpya...."
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (Live)
JoyousVEVO [no YouTube publishing date given, but based on comments, this video was published on YouTube in 2018]
****
EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT THE SELECTED COMMENTS IN THIS POST
In addition to comments about the choir and this song, the selected comments serve as examples of the extensive use of contemporary African American Vernacular English terms/phrases in this video's discussion thread. These selected comments are only a small sample of the comments from that discussion which include African American Vernacular English terms such as "lit", "on point", "killing it", "on fire", and "dope". This discussion thread is not unique in its commenters' frequent use of AAVE as the same terms/phrases and other contemporary AAVE terms/phrases are found in the discussion threads of many-if not most- other YouTube contemporary African music videos that I've read (without looking for such content).
As an African American who is interested in vernacular English, I should also mention that most of the examples of AAVE that I read in that discussion thread were 1. still used in the USA by African Americans (except for "boogie down") and 2. most of the examples that I read in that discussion thread were used the same way that African Americans use them.*
*I've found that commenters in YouTube discussion threads of contemporary African music often use the phrase e "killing it" differently than the way African Americans or another person from the USA uses it (to refer to someone doing something very very well). For instance, instead of saying "He's killing it" [meaning he's singing that song very well], I've often come across a non-American writing someone writing "He kills me". To Americans, the vernacular phrase "He kills me" means something completely different. Click https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-when-a-guy-says-Youre-killing-me for examples of American English usages of the vernacular term "you're killing me"
I've also included an example of the South African vernacular term "eish" from that discussion thread and an example of the Jamaican vernacular term "big up". These vernacular terms were much less frequently used in that discussion thread (and in other YouTube contemporary African music videos' discussion threads) than the African American vernacular English (AAVE) terms/phrases.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
2018
1. Zama Luhlongwane
"wooooooooow! this is my favourite song in Joyous 22. Indeed He has only done great things in my life. May His name be forever praised!"
**
2. Sane Cibane
"Finally 🙌 JC Sibusiso Mthembu my fav💕💕💕"
**
3. Chidochashe Zhou
"yooo my favourite artist in jc"
**
4. Matheus Gideon
"Just can't get enough of this song, this is one of the joyous best songs, well done Sibu, driving me crazy with your dances ( gwara gwara) and you do it perfectly well. Great song, you are talented and may God bless you"
**
5. ThePatriotIsMe
"Credit to the band... Always on point!"
**
6. loveness pedzisayi
"God bless you JC (in shona they say Mwari ngakuropafadze)"
**
7. Lucent Tshilidzi
"joyous on fire"
**
8. Kuda Mpatane
"Sbu Noah my lifetime praiser........I love you JC, at all times your songs uplift my soul when i am down."
**
9. Chuma• Ndunge
"Love Sbu's dancing when the video commences. This song is a hit🔥🔥"
**
10. kevin oloo
"The best gwara gwara dancer...Joyous celebration your the best, we love you from Kenya."
**
REPLY
11. veronique nyokabi, 2019
"That's true..He gwara gwara real gooooood👊"
**
12. Kukie Dawu
"The lady in braids on 3:35 was feeling beat😊"
**
REPLY
13. Gibbs T Gumbo
"her name is Siyakha...she is dope"
**
REPLY
14. KetoFit For Life
"She went in! Like I went in!! Malibongwe!!! Bless His name!!!"
**
REPLY
15. veronique nyokabi, 2019
"Ohhhhh yes Lady let's get down for Jesus, who could contain themselves in such a Heavenly awesome environment."
**
16. Lovisa Sakaria
"the lady with the white top and a black pencil skirt at 1:09 and 4:55 is feeling it for real."
**
REPLY
17. Lovisa Sakaria
"the way she moves her head though. ;-)"
**
REPLY
18. ADEKOYA OLADIMEJI, 2019
"I tell u.. i jst like her vibes"
****
19. apunyo sharon
"This guy is just off the chain"
**
20. Hlengiwe Nxumalo
"Loved your entrance Sbu...you blew me away."
**
21. don d
"I can see lesotho flag..bigup"
**
22. Susan Maina.
"I just want to meet this group's stylist/designer"
**
23. Mckanzie_ la_Janet
"Gwara gwara on point 🔥🔥"
**
24. Allicia Richards
"Any chance of this group coming to the Caribbean or America.."
**
REPLY
25. Gloria Ukay, 2019
"They were at TDJakes porters house Dallas few years back, He flew the entire group to minister in his church,it was glorious, Sbu did a song there too"
**
26. Mr R
"The sound quality, so on point!"
**
27. Nellie Kelysse
"I can't help but dance to this jam. Is the Holy Spirit in this place or what 🙌🙌"
**
28. Ngirazi blessing
"OMG !!!!!WHAT A POWERFUL SONG UH GUYZ UH JX HIT IT YOOOOOH....LYRICS PLZZZZ"
**
29. Eva Wangechi
"Sibusiso always lit"
**
30. Sims Tee
"On repeat 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾😍😍😍powerful song."
**
31. Awaworyevu Linda
"shout out to the instrumentalist and the choir great job done"
**
32. Chidochashe Zhou
"yooo my favourite artist in jc"
**
33. Paula Mpela
"Joyous rocks and neva disappoint"
**
34. Randy Randy
"wow!!! the baratone guys...power to yal!!! yho!"
**
35. Keganetse Gagobepe
"Come on guitarists woow you killed it Sbu"
**
36. ONALENNA CHIPO
"Finally....this is an amazing song..
Big up #SbuNoah"
**
37. Luzuko Mngqibisa
"dope track. let the name Jesus be praised by all"
**
38. Wibabara Mathilde
"Who loves Sibusisso so much like me? Love Joyous celebration from Rwanda"
**
39. Chido Nhavira
"this is m second best song on joyous celeb ration after umoya kuledawo. Sbu Mthembu you are awesome i love youuu. im yyour biggest fan from zimbabwe"
**
40.Sharon Chiduku
"The bass in the beginning is everything"
**
41. Eugene Galle
"When I think of all the attacks against other Africans I SA , I wonder how can you live there and be unsaved, savage, I hope this passion on stage is transferred to the streets show the love of Christ to your neighbor black from other countries, all this without love is vain , great Christian entertainment though, may God get the glory"
**
42. Zintle Ndiwa
"It's a nice song but the must be a different between club songs and almighty God songs... That's why people don't see nothing wrong when they are in sin... But who am I to say this God will decide one day 2 Corinthians 6:14"
**
REPLY
43. Fikile Olga
"11 months ago
you must read the boble carefully....we must rejoice in the Lord...praises him with music"
**
44. Linda Elias
"This song neh....i dont understand the language but the song is lit jou"
**
45. Buchille ne
"PLEASE BE CAREFUL - DONT FORGET that it is about giving PRAISE to the Almighty and not about performance of self gratification!!!"
**
46. Fred Jeremiah
"The people are awesome, I enjoy all their collections, choreography and lead vocalist even though I don't understand the languages. God bless you all. From Nigeria"
**
47. anne osiyo
"I admire the unity that they have in terms of accomodating both the young and the old in their choir.I haven't seen this in Kenyan churches...only the youth are known to perform in church choir."
**
48. Tshidi Potase
"UB Arina will be on fire today Botswana are u ready dancing for the Lord 🍹😇😇💃💃💃💃 hallelujah wezikhala"
**
49. Boikanyo Motlogelwa
"That sister in white top eish. Great dance. I love"
**
50. Byron King
"Omg my brothers and sisters are so beautiful in worship"
****
2019
51. Musha Kudenga
"Zimbabwean flag at 4:52, I'm glad"
**
52. Mpho Sekokotla
"What a beautiful jam!! The best song by Joyous Celebration, absolutely love it!!"
**
53. Nosisa Nokwali
"Such energy Sbu Noah❤"
**
54. Virginia Wavinya
"If it was possible for this choir to come to kenya for one week then definately I will be there....your music is lit..."
**
55. Ayanda Nomcebo Phindile Mokoena
"I LOVE THIS SONG!!! THE ENERGY AND THE MESSAGE🙌🙌🙌"
**
56. Thuso Mmotlana
"The horn section is lit lit lit I love how everyone is just enjoying the song.. happy vibes"
**
57. Karen Chipo
"You guys are lit...you raise my spirit, keep on doing the good job for God."
**
58. Yolanda Hermanus
"Can't stop listening to this song it's on repeat feeling so blessed. Love it ❤❤🔥"
**
REPLY
59. Winnie Rammbuda
"Same here my sister, on repeat."
**
60. lauren kitoko
"what does ' Malibowe' mean? I dont know if my spelling is correct.?"
**
REPLY
61. Mr R
"It’s “malibongwe” meaning let His name be praised. He has done only great things in my life, let His name be praised. He has heard my cry, He brought me out of the miry clay, He set my feet on on a rock, He left me with a new song. let His name be praised."
**
REPLY
62. lauren kitoko
"many thanks, that was helpful. God bless you for the great job."
**
63. Alpha Happy
"Which country is this 🇱🇸
I see the huge fan at the front row just waving 😃🙂"
**
REPLY
64. Mr R
"Lesotho"
**
65. bob Toys
"That's a good tune with a boogie down. God Bless"
**
66. Ayanda sweetness
"His killing it"
**
67. Portia Ndlovu
"my wedding song ,20 April 2019 how blessed I was"
**
68. Ester Mndeme
"Alll the way from Tanzania my favourite band of all time ... And i don't understand a word.... 😀 JoyousCelebration for life .... This is literally my dream band one could make me cry by taking me to their concert"
**
69. Nomsa Nqangase
"What does nceku mean? He keeps saying that"
**
REPLY
70. HAMILTON KAWE
"Servant of God."
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series that showcases the song "Wenzile" by the South African Gospel choir Joyous Celebration.
Part I presents the official YouTube music video of the Gospel song "Wenzile" as sung by Joyous Celebration. The lyrics of that song are also included in this post along with selected comments from the official YouTube video of this song.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/comments-from-discussion-thread-of.html for Part II documents comments from the discussion thread for that YouTube video about the custom of a large number of concert attendees recording the concert with their cell phones.
The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composer/s of this song and all those associated with Joyous Celebration. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
****
LYRICS- WENZILE
Wenzile okuhle kodwa
(English meaning: He has done only great things)
Empilweni yami yonke
(English meaning: Throughout my life)
Malibongwe, malibongwe
(English meaning: Bless His Name)
Oh Malibongwe igama leNkosi
(English meaning: Oh bless the name of the Lord)
Wezwa ukukhala kwami
(English meaning: He heard my cry)
Wangikhipha obishini olunzima
(English meaning: You took me out of a deep miry clay)
Wangibeka edwaleni
(English meaning: You placed me on a Rock)
Wangishiya neculo elisha
(English meaning: He left me with a new song)
-snip-
These lyrics were posted in this embedded video's discussion thread by Edwin Alubale, 2018.
The original language used for this song is Zulu.
Here's another comment from that discussion thread with the words in Swahili (posted by Bezalel Mwandete, 2018)
"SWAHILI
Ametenda mambo makuu maisha yangu yote.....
libarikiwe libarikiwe jina la Bwana
amesikia kilio changu
kanitoa matopeni
kaniweka mwambani
kanipa wimbo mpya...."
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (Live)
JoyousVEVO [no YouTube publishing date given, but based on comments, this video was published on YouTube in 2018]
****
EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT THE SELECTED COMMENTS IN THIS POST
In addition to comments about the choir and this song, the selected comments serve as examples of the extensive use of contemporary African American Vernacular English terms/phrases in this video's discussion thread. These selected comments are only a small sample of the comments from that discussion which include African American Vernacular English terms such as "lit", "on point", "killing it", "on fire", and "dope". This discussion thread is not unique in its commenters' frequent use of AAVE as the same terms/phrases and other contemporary AAVE terms/phrases are found in the discussion threads of many-if not most- other YouTube contemporary African music videos that I've read (without looking for such content).
As an African American who is interested in vernacular English, I should also mention that most of the examples of AAVE that I read in that discussion thread were 1. still used in the USA by African Americans (except for "boogie down") and 2. most of the examples that I read in that discussion thread were used the same way that African Americans use them.*
*I've found that commenters in YouTube discussion threads of contemporary African music often use the phrase e "killing it" differently than the way African Americans or another person from the USA uses it (to refer to someone doing something very very well). For instance, instead of saying "He's killing it" [meaning he's singing that song very well], I've often come across a non-American writing someone writing "He kills me". To Americans, the vernacular phrase "He kills me" means something completely different. Click https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-when-a-guy-says-Youre-killing-me for examples of American English usages of the vernacular term "you're killing me"
I've also included an example of the South African vernacular term "eish" from that discussion thread and an example of the Jamaican vernacular term "big up". These vernacular terms were much less frequently used in that discussion thread (and in other YouTube contemporary African music videos' discussion threads) than the African American vernacular English (AAVE) terms/phrases.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
2018
1. Zama Luhlongwane
"wooooooooow! this is my favourite song in Joyous 22. Indeed He has only done great things in my life. May His name be forever praised!"
**
2. Sane Cibane
"Finally 🙌 JC Sibusiso Mthembu my fav💕💕💕"
**
3. Chidochashe Zhou
"yooo my favourite artist in jc"
**
4. Matheus Gideon
"Just can't get enough of this song, this is one of the joyous best songs, well done Sibu, driving me crazy with your dances ( gwara gwara) and you do it perfectly well. Great song, you are talented and may God bless you"
**
5. ThePatriotIsMe
"Credit to the band... Always on point!"
**
6. loveness pedzisayi
"God bless you JC (in shona they say Mwari ngakuropafadze)"
**
7. Lucent Tshilidzi
"joyous on fire"
**
8. Kuda Mpatane
"Sbu Noah my lifetime praiser........I love you JC, at all times your songs uplift my soul when i am down."
**
9. Chuma• Ndunge
"Love Sbu's dancing when the video commences. This song is a hit🔥🔥"
**
10. kevin oloo
"The best gwara gwara dancer...Joyous celebration your the best, we love you from Kenya."
**
REPLY
11. veronique nyokabi, 2019
"That's true..He gwara gwara real gooooood👊"
**
12. Kukie Dawu
"The lady in braids on 3:35 was feeling beat😊"
**
REPLY
13. Gibbs T Gumbo
"her name is Siyakha...she is dope"
**
REPLY
14. KetoFit For Life
"She went in! Like I went in!! Malibongwe!!! Bless His name!!!"
**
REPLY
15. veronique nyokabi, 2019
"Ohhhhh yes Lady let's get down for Jesus, who could contain themselves in such a Heavenly awesome environment."
**
16. Lovisa Sakaria
"the lady with the white top and a black pencil skirt at 1:09 and 4:55 is feeling it for real."
**
REPLY
17. Lovisa Sakaria
"the way she moves her head though. ;-)"
**
REPLY
18. ADEKOYA OLADIMEJI, 2019
"I tell u.. i jst like her vibes"
****
19. apunyo sharon
"This guy is just off the chain"
**
20. Hlengiwe Nxumalo
"Loved your entrance Sbu...you blew me away."
**
21. don d
"I can see lesotho flag..bigup"
**
22. Susan Maina.
"I just want to meet this group's stylist/designer"
**
23. Mckanzie_ la_Janet
"Gwara gwara on point 🔥🔥"
**
24. Allicia Richards
"Any chance of this group coming to the Caribbean or America.."
**
REPLY
25. Gloria Ukay, 2019
"They were at TDJakes porters house Dallas few years back, He flew the entire group to minister in his church,it was glorious, Sbu did a song there too"
**
26. Mr R
"The sound quality, so on point!"
**
27. Nellie Kelysse
"I can't help but dance to this jam. Is the Holy Spirit in this place or what 🙌🙌"
**
28. Ngirazi blessing
"OMG !!!!!WHAT A POWERFUL SONG UH GUYZ UH JX HIT IT YOOOOOH....LYRICS PLZZZZ"
**
29. Eva Wangechi
"Sibusiso always lit"
**
30. Sims Tee
"On repeat 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾😍😍😍powerful song."
**
31. Awaworyevu Linda
"shout out to the instrumentalist and the choir great job done"
**
32. Chidochashe Zhou
"yooo my favourite artist in jc"
**
33. Paula Mpela
"Joyous rocks and neva disappoint"
**
34. Randy Randy
"wow!!! the baratone guys...power to yal!!! yho!"
**
35. Keganetse Gagobepe
"Come on guitarists woow you killed it Sbu"
**
36. ONALENNA CHIPO
"Finally....this is an amazing song..
Big up #SbuNoah"
**
37. Luzuko Mngqibisa
"dope track. let the name Jesus be praised by all"
**
38. Wibabara Mathilde
"Who loves Sibusisso so much like me? Love Joyous celebration from Rwanda"
**
39. Chido Nhavira
"this is m second best song on joyous celeb ration after umoya kuledawo. Sbu Mthembu you are awesome i love youuu. im yyour biggest fan from zimbabwe"
**
40.Sharon Chiduku
"The bass in the beginning is everything"
**
41. Eugene Galle
"When I think of all the attacks against other Africans I SA , I wonder how can you live there and be unsaved, savage, I hope this passion on stage is transferred to the streets show the love of Christ to your neighbor black from other countries, all this without love is vain , great Christian entertainment though, may God get the glory"
**
42. Zintle Ndiwa
"It's a nice song but the must be a different between club songs and almighty God songs... That's why people don't see nothing wrong when they are in sin... But who am I to say this God will decide one day 2 Corinthians 6:14"
**
REPLY
43. Fikile Olga
"11 months ago
you must read the boble carefully....we must rejoice in the Lord...praises him with music"
**
44. Linda Elias
"This song neh....i dont understand the language but the song is lit jou"
**
45. Buchille ne
"PLEASE BE CAREFUL - DONT FORGET that it is about giving PRAISE to the Almighty and not about performance of self gratification!!!"
**
46. Fred Jeremiah
"The people are awesome, I enjoy all their collections, choreography and lead vocalist even though I don't understand the languages. God bless you all. From Nigeria"
**
47. anne osiyo
"I admire the unity that they have in terms of accomodating both the young and the old in their choir.I haven't seen this in Kenyan churches...only the youth are known to perform in church choir."
**
48. Tshidi Potase
"UB Arina will be on fire today Botswana are u ready dancing for the Lord 🍹😇😇💃💃💃💃 hallelujah wezikhala"
**
49. Boikanyo Motlogelwa
"That sister in white top eish. Great dance. I love"
**
50. Byron King
"Omg my brothers and sisters are so beautiful in worship"
****
2019
51. Musha Kudenga
"Zimbabwean flag at 4:52, I'm glad"
**
52. Mpho Sekokotla
"What a beautiful jam!! The best song by Joyous Celebration, absolutely love it!!"
**
53. Nosisa Nokwali
"Such energy Sbu Noah❤"
**
54. Virginia Wavinya
"If it was possible for this choir to come to kenya for one week then definately I will be there....your music is lit..."
**
55. Ayanda Nomcebo Phindile Mokoena
"I LOVE THIS SONG!!! THE ENERGY AND THE MESSAGE🙌🙌🙌"
**
56. Thuso Mmotlana
"The horn section is lit lit lit I love how everyone is just enjoying the song.. happy vibes"
**
57. Karen Chipo
"You guys are lit...you raise my spirit, keep on doing the good job for God."
**
58. Yolanda Hermanus
"Can't stop listening to this song it's on repeat feeling so blessed. Love it ❤❤🔥"
**
REPLY
59. Winnie Rammbuda
"Same here my sister, on repeat."
**
60. lauren kitoko
"what does ' Malibowe' mean? I dont know if my spelling is correct.?"
**
REPLY
61. Mr R
"It’s “malibongwe” meaning let His name be praised. He has done only great things in my life, let His name be praised. He has heard my cry, He brought me out of the miry clay, He set my feet on on a rock, He left me with a new song. let His name be praised."
**
REPLY
62. lauren kitoko
"many thanks, that was helpful. God bless you for the great job."
**
63. Alpha Happy
"Which country is this 🇱🇸
I see the huge fan at the front row just waving 😃🙂"
**
REPLY
64. Mr R
"Lesotho"
**
65. bob Toys
"That's a good tune with a boogie down. God Bless"
**
66. Ayanda sweetness
"His killing it"
**
67. Portia Ndlovu
"my wedding song ,20 April 2019 how blessed I was"
**
68. Ester Mndeme
"Alll the way from Tanzania my favourite band of all time ... And i don't understand a word.... 😀 JoyousCelebration for life .... This is literally my dream band one could make me cry by taking me to their concert"
**
69. Nomsa Nqangase
"What does nceku mean? He keeps saying that"
**
REPLY
70. HAMILTON KAWE
"Servant of God."
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Big Bill Boonzy, Lead Belly, & Bugs Bunny Cartoon - "Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)"
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about the song "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
Part II showcases a YouTube sound file of "Jimmy Crack Corn" by Big Bill Broonzy and by Lead Belly.
The Addendum to that post presents a sound file reproduction of a 1846 version of "The Blue Tail Fly". WARNING: This sound file includes one instance of the offensive referent that is often referred to as "the n word".
The Addendum also presents a clip of "Jimmy Crack Corn" from a Bugs Bunny cartoon as well as two comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/some-theories-about-meaning-of-crack.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents some theories about the meaning of "crack corn" in the song that is now known as "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
The lyrics to the most often cited contemporary version of "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly") is also given in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the musical legacy of Bill Bill Broonzy and Lead Belly. Thanks also to all the publishers of these YouTube examples and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: LeadBelly-Blue Tail Fly
TravelerIntoTheBlue, Published on Aug 21, 2013
[...]
Song: Blue Tail Fly
Artist: Leadbelly
Album: The Legendary Leadbelly
Writers: Leadbelly
****
Example #2: Jimmy Crack Corn , Big Bill Broonzy
dooWopMan1961, Published on May 25, 2016
****
ADDENDUM- ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF "THE BLUE TAIL FLY" ("JIMMY CRACK CORN")
Jim Crack Corn (1846) [sound file]
Sheet Music Singer, Published on Jul 6, 2018
[Disclaimer: derogatory racial terms. No hatred is intended. This song is presented in its original form as part of American history.]
**
BugsBunnyJimmyCrackCorn.avi
theoutofdoors•Published on Apr 27, 2010
Bugs sings "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue Tail Fly" all the way through to the end.
Bugs sings the song throughout the cartoon so I spliced the music together, along with the video, to make a completely fluid song. Hope you enjoy!
-snip-
Here are two comments from this YouTube video's discussion thread:
1. Xezlec, 2013
"Listen carefully to the lyrics. The slave causes the master's death (perhaps deliberately, judging by all the little hints), the jury lets him off, and he celebrates with gimcrack (cheap) corn (whisky). The master is left a powerless corpse beneath a humiliating epitaph. The song was popular with African-Americans for a long time in part because of its subversiveness. The verses are partially in a mock-mournful style, but mainly, the melody is very cheerful."
**
2. ricaard, 2019
"As the son of southern parents, I never paid attention to the fact that this song was a slave's recounting, slanted or otherwise, of his master's demise. The things you don't pay attention to when you're a kid."
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about the song "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
Part II showcases a YouTube sound file of "Jimmy Crack Corn" by Big Bill Broonzy and by Lead Belly.
The Addendum to that post presents a sound file reproduction of a 1846 version of "The Blue Tail Fly". WARNING: This sound file includes one instance of the offensive referent that is often referred to as "the n word".
The Addendum also presents a clip of "Jimmy Crack Corn" from a Bugs Bunny cartoon as well as two comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/some-theories-about-meaning-of-crack.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents some theories about the meaning of "crack corn" in the song that is now known as "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
The lyrics to the most often cited contemporary version of "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly") is also given in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the musical legacy of Bill Bill Broonzy and Lead Belly. Thanks also to all the publishers of these YouTube examples and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: LeadBelly-Blue Tail Fly
TravelerIntoTheBlue, Published on Aug 21, 2013
[...]
Song: Blue Tail Fly
Artist: Leadbelly
Album: The Legendary Leadbelly
Writers: Leadbelly
****
Example #2: Jimmy Crack Corn , Big Bill Broonzy
dooWopMan1961, Published on May 25, 2016
****
ADDENDUM- ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF "THE BLUE TAIL FLY" ("JIMMY CRACK CORN")
Jim Crack Corn (1846) [sound file]
Sheet Music Singer, Published on Jul 6, 2018
[Disclaimer: derogatory racial terms. No hatred is intended. This song is presented in its original form as part of American history.]
**
BugsBunnyJimmyCrackCorn.avi
theoutofdoors•Published on Apr 27, 2010
Bugs sings "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue Tail Fly" all the way through to the end.
Bugs sings the song throughout the cartoon so I spliced the music together, along with the video, to make a completely fluid song. Hope you enjoy!
-snip-
Here are two comments from this YouTube video's discussion thread:
1. Xezlec, 2013
"Listen carefully to the lyrics. The slave causes the master's death (perhaps deliberately, judging by all the little hints), the jury lets him off, and he celebrates with gimcrack (cheap) corn (whisky). The master is left a powerless corpse beneath a humiliating epitaph. The song was popular with African-Americans for a long time in part because of its subversiveness. The verses are partially in a mock-mournful style, but mainly, the melody is very cheerful."
**
2. ricaard, 2019
"As the son of southern parents, I never paid attention to the fact that this song was a slave's recounting, slanted or otherwise, of his master's demise. The things you don't pay attention to when you're a kid."
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Some Theories About The Meaning Of "Crack Corn" In The Song "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly")
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the song "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
This post presents some theories about the meaning of "crack corn" in the song that is now known as "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
The lyrics to the most often cited contemporary version of "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly") is also given in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/big-bill-boonzy-lead-belly-bugs-bunny.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II showcases a YouTube sound file of "Jimmy Crack Corn" by Big Bill Broonzy and by Lead Belly.
The Addendum to that post presents a sound file reproduction of a 1846 version of "The Blue Tail Fly". WARNING: This sound file includes one instance of the offensive referent that is often referred to as "the n word".
The Addendum also presents a clip of "Jimmy Crack Corn" from a Bugs Bunny cartoon as well as two comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
LYRICS FOR THE MOST OFTEN CITED CONTEMPORARY VERSION OF "JIMMY CRACK CORN" ("THE BLUE TAIL FLY")
The Blue Tail Fly (Jimmie Crack Corn)
Written By: Unknown
Copyright Unknown
When I was young I use' to wait
On massa an' hand him his plate
An' pass de bottle when he got dry
An' brush away de blue-tail fly
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
One day he ride aroun' de farm
De flies so num'rous they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on de thigh
De devil take de blue-tail fly!
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
De pony run, he jump he pitch
He threw my Massa in de ditch
He died an' de jury wondered why
De verdict was de blue-tail fly
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa'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 de blue-tail fly."
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
Source: https://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/b034.html
-snip-
"Massa" = master
****
THEORIES ABOUT THE MEANING OF "CRACK CORN" IN THE SONG "JIM CRACK CORN" (most often contemporary given as "JIMMY CRACK CORN/THE BLUE TAIL FLY"
These excerpts are given in no particular order.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Crack_Corn
" "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue Tail Fly" is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s through performances by the Virginia Minstrels. It regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the beginning of the American folk music revival and has since become a popular children's song. Over the years, several variants have appeared.
Most versions include some idiomatic African English, although sanitized General American versions now predominate. The basic narrative remains intact. On the surface, the song is a black slave's lament over his white master's death in a horseriding accident. The song, however, can be—and is—interpreted as having a subtext of celebration about that death[3][4] and of the slave's having contributed to it through deliberate negligence[5][6] or even deniable action.
[...]
Melody
The melody is similar to "Miss Lucy Long" and was originally set for piano accompaniment,[3] although "De Blue Tail Fly" was marketed in Boston as one of "Emmett's Banjo Melodies".[22] The four-part chorus favors a single bass and three tenors: the first and third tenors harmonize in thirds with the second completes the triads or doubles the root, sometimes crossing the melody line.[3] The versions published in 1846 differed rather markedly: "De Blue Tail Fly" is modal (although Lhamar emends its B♭ notation to C minor) and hexatonic; "Jim Crack Corn", meanwhile, is in G major and more easily singable.[3] Its simplicity has made it a common beginner's tune for acoustic guitar.[23] The melody is a chain of thirds (G-B, F♯-A, G-B, [A]-C, B-D, C-E) harmonized a third above and below in the manner of the choruses in Italian opera.[3]
Meaning
The first verses usually establish that the singer was initially a house slave.[24] He is then charged with protecting the master out of doors—and his horse as well—from the "blue-tailed fly". This is possibly the blue-bottle fly[26] (Calliphora vomitoria[27] or Protophormia terraenovae), but probably the mourning horsefly (Tabanus atratus), a bloodsucking pest with a blue-black abdomen[28] found throughout the American South.[29][30] In this, the singer, ultimately, is unsuccessful; the horse begins to buck, and the master is thrown and killed. A coroner's jury is convened to investigate the master's death, or the singer is criminally charged with that death, but owing to the "blue-tail fly," the slave escapes culpability.
The chorus can be mystifying to modern listeners, but its straightforward meaning is that someone is roughly milling ("cracking") the old master's corn in preparation for turning it into hominy[33] or liquor.[34] There has been much debate, however, over the subtext. In the 19th century, the singer was often considered mournful and despondent at his master's death; in the 20th, celebratory: "Jimmy Crack Corn" has been called "the baldest, most loving account of the master's demise" in American song.[5]
The debate has been further muddled by changes to the refrain over time. Throughout the 19th century, the lines referred to "Jim",[2] "Jim Crack",[12] or "Jim Crack Corn"[37] and lacked any conjunction across the line's caesura; following the rise of highly-syncopated musical genres such as ragtime and jazz, anaptyxis converted the name to "Jimmy" or "Jimmie" and the "and" appeared, both putting more stress on their measures' backbeat. This has obscured some of the possible original meanings: some have argued that—as "Jim" was a generic name for slaves in minstrel songs—the song's "Jim" was the same person as its blackface narrator: Speaking about himself in the 3rd person or repeating his new masters' commands in apostrophe, he has no concern with his demotion to a field hand now that his old master is dead. Another now-obscured possible meaning derives from jim crack being eye dialect[40] for gimcrack ("worthless"[38][41]):[43] The narrator is so overcome with emotion (be it pleasure or sorrow) that he has no concern at all about his gimcrack cracked corn, his substandard rations.[3] Since "corn" was also a common rural American ellipsis and euphemism for "corn whiskey",[45] it could also refer to the slave being so overcome that he has no concern about his rotgut alcohol.[46]
Other suppositions include that "cracking" or "cracking corn" referred to the now-obsolete English and Appalachian slang meaning "to gossip" or "to sit around chitchatting";[47] that the singer is resting from his oversight duties and allowing Jim to steal corn or corn liquor; that "Jim Crack" is simply a synonym for "Jim Crow" by means of the dialectical "crack" to reference the crake; or that it is all code for the old master "Jim" cracking his "corn" (skull) open during his fall. The 1847 version of the song published in London singularly has the lyrics "Jim Crack com'", which could refer to a poor Southern cracker[48] (presumably an overseer or new owner) or a minced oath for Jesus Christ (thus referencing indifference at the Judgment Day); the same version explicitly makes the fly's name a wordplay on the earlier minstrel hit "Long Tail Blue", about a horse. A number of racehorses have been named "Jim Crack" or "Blue Tail Fly" and, in at least one early-20th century variant of the song, it's given as the name of the horse that killed the master,[49] but that is not a common element of the song. (Another uncommon variant appeared in the 1847 Songs of Ireland published in New York: it has the slave being given away by the master.[13])
Explanations of the song based upon "jimmy" or "jimmie" being slaves' slang for crows or mules (here being allowed into the old master's corn fields instead of being chased away) or deriving "jimmy" from "gimme" are unsupported by the existing records. Pete Seeger, for instance, is said to have maintained that the original lyrics were "gimme cracked corn" and referred to a punishment in which a slave's bacon rations were curtailed, leaving him chickenfeed;[50][53] the same lines could also just be asking for the whiskey jug to be passed around. The idea that Jim or Jimmy is "cracking open" a jug of whiskey is similarly unsupported: that phrasal verb is attested at least as early as 1803[54] but initially applied to literal ruptures; its application to opening the cap or cork of a bottle of alcohol was a later development.
History
The present song is generally credited to Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels,[10] whose shows in New York City in the mid-1840s helped raise minstrelsy to national attention.[55] Along with "Old Dan Tucker", the tune was one of the breakout hits of the genre[56] and continued to headline Emmett's acts with Bryant's Minstrels into the 1860s.[55] It was also a common song of Tom Rice's.[57] The song was first published (with two distinct sets of lyrics) in Baltimore and Boston in 1846, although it is sometimes mistakenly dated to 1844.[1] However, as with later rockabilly hits, it is quite possible Emmett simply received credit for arranging and publishing an existing African-American song.[11] The song was certainly picked up by slaves and became widely popular among them.[58] The chorus of the song not uncommonly appeared in the middle of other African-American folk songs, one of which may have been its original source.[59] The song differed from other minstrel tunes in long remaining popular among African Americans: it was recorded by both Big Bill Broonzy and Lead Belly after World War II.
Abraham Lincoln was an admirer of the tune, calling it "that buzzing song". Throughout the 19th century, it was usually accompanied by the harmonica or by humming which mimicked the buzzing of the fly (which on at least one occasion was noted disrupting the parliament of Victoria, Australia.[60]). Lincoln would ask his friend Ward Lamon to sing and play it on his banjo[61] and likely played along on his harmonica.[62] It is said that he asked for it to be played as the lead-in to his address at Gettysburg.[10][11]
Following World War II, the "Blue Tail Fly" was repopularized by the Andrews Sisters' 1947 recording with the folk singer Burl Ives. It then became part of the general Folk Revival through the '50s and early '60s before losing favor to more politically-charged fare, as parodied by Tom Lehrer's "Folk Song Army". A 1963 Time article averred that "instead of ... chronicling the life cycle of the blue-tailed fly", the "most sought-after folk singers in the business"—including Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, and Bob Dylan—were "singing with hot-eyed fervor about police dogs and racial murder".[63] All the same, Seeger claimed to have been present when Alan Lomax[65] first taught the song to Burl Ives for a CBS radio show[64] and their duet at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in 1993 was Ives' last public performance”…
-snip-
*I added italics to highlight these sentences.
****
Excerpt #2:
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=1141
[Note: Numbers assigned for this pancocojams post]
1. Origins: Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn)
Subject: RE: Blue-Tail Fly (lyric reguest)
From: belter
Date: 26 Mar 97 - 09:37 AM
"I just looked up blue-tail fly, and the notes sujest that cracked corn might be refering to wiskey. While that coule be, I wounder if it might mean corn that isn't soft enough to eat whole so its cracked up and used as slave rations, since it would be cheap, and although they couldn't have known, it's a lousy source of protein and hinders brain development if thats all you have to eat. I wounder how it got to be comon to use jimmie crack corn."
**
2.Subject: RE: Blue-Tail Fly (lyric reguest)
From: gargoyle
Date: 03 Apr 97 - 12:32 AM
"The "jimmy" is a variation of "gimme" or "give me"
This has a rich heritage in folk annals.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have heard it from a minstral show and it was one of his favorites. (Sorry, I don't have tyhe time to dig for the original reference at this moment.)"
**
3. Subject: RE: Lyr Add: (De) BLUE TAIL FLY
From: GUEST,freeatlast
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 05:21 PM
"The clue for 13 down in the January 13th, 2004 cryptic puzzle in the "Globe and Mail" was: "Poorly made Russian fighter goes up with a bang (8)".
The answer, of course, is GIMCRACK.
I know, I know… you don't care.
Anyway, "gimcrack" or "jimcrack" got me to thinking about the song and just what "Jim-crack Corn" might be. As the crossword clue says, gimcrack means "poorly made." And "corn," as we all know, is a care banishing beverage.
The narrator of the song says, "When I was young." This means he is no longer young. This would make him what -- old?
He's got a lot to think about; some of it is painful. His carefree youth when all he was required to do was to brush away a few flies might seem pretty golden when viewed through a whiskey bottle.
Jimcrack corn might just be cheap whiskey, moonshine, Tennessee wine, granny's rheumatiz medicine. It's still good for what ails you – especially at those moments when you realize that none of us are ever going to be free.
Cheers"
**
4. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue-Tail Fly
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 04:58 PM
..."Source: Leadbelly version of Jimmy Crack Corn" [Note: September 15, 2019: This hyperlink no longer viable.]
This site notes the following about the origin of this song:
"Credited to Daniel Emmett by Spaeth but it's likely that if he wrote it from other sources. One of the earliest publications was in a series credited to him -- but the absence of his name on the earliest copies goes far toward discrediting his authorship. The subtext for this song is that the slave in fact killed the master himself, blaming it on the blue-tail fly. This is hinted at, to varying degrees, in some versions of the song".
-snip-
There's alot of theories on what "Jimmy Crack Corn" means. Here's several theories from that same site -and notice that an anonymous poster from Mudcat Discussion Forum is mentioned:
"CRACK CORN? The Civil War song, Jimmy Cracked Corn, was one of Abe Lincoln's favorite songs! However, in the song, Jimmy wasn't really cracking corn. He was sleeping, and "cracking corn" was another term for snoring.
"Jimmy Crack Corn" was slang for "gimme cracked corn" or corn liquor. "Jimcrack o' corn and I don't care" "Jimcrack" is a measure of whiskey.
"Cracking corn" for telling jokes or tall tales: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless bunch of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode. G. Cochrane, 1766, in "Letters," 27 June. OED; The term comes from the Scottish-northern English word crack (crake), meaning boasting, which has been used in that sense from 1460 in print. See OED, 1971 and later eds. Georgia apparntly [sic] was first called the Cracker State in print in 1808, in "Balance," Verses by a Cracker Planter.
According to "The Cassel Dictionary of Slang" "Crack-Corn" referred to White People and originally meant the White natives of Kentucky. It was apparently a variation of "corncracker" which meant a poor white farmer and was apparently applied to the natives of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky or Tennessee possibly because of their dependance ]sic]on corn or maize. Corn in the British Isles refers to wheat, oats or barley as distinct from the American meaning. (From Mudcat Discussion Forum)"
-snip-
Other websites such as The Mavens' Word of the Day indicate that "To crack corn is to break or crush it into pieces".
Are there any other theories you want to throw in the mix?"
**
5. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue-Tail Fly
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 05:16 PM
"Yes there's mine, but I have nothing except word-of-mouth information. Here it is from my father. He told me in 1949, here in Victoria Australia:
"Jimmy is the old name for The Crow. The Crow was called Jimmy in England. 'Jimmy crack corn and I don't care' means that the Crow may crack, and eat, the corn because there's no one to care now that the 'Master' of the farm is dead."
If the teller of the tale had among his tasks the scaring of the birds, from the cornfield, this would make a lot of sense.
This ties in with my theory - and it's speculation, that the chorus of this song came from an English Crow-scaring song. I repeat - THE CHORUS of this song - only.
There are examples of crow-scaring songs from both England and America. Children were employed for this task and the songs were collected from them. I've never actually found an ancestor for this song but I live in hope.
For what it's worth. Cheers, Joy"
**
6. Subject: RE: Lyr Add: (De) Blue Tail Fly
From: GUEST,Black Deep
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 03:21 PM
"Crack Corn. Moon shine was made from cracked corn, then mixed with sugar and water and fermented, the distilled. Up until I was in my early 30's they called it cracking corn. Or another term for moonshining wisky."
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the song "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
This post presents some theories about the meaning of "crack corn" in the song that is now known as "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly").
The lyrics to the most often cited contemporary version of "Jimmy Crack Corn" ("The Blue Tail Fly") is also given in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/big-bill-boonzy-lead-belly-bugs-bunny.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II showcases a YouTube sound file of "Jimmy Crack Corn" by Big Bill Broonzy and by Lead Belly.
The Addendum to that post presents a sound file reproduction of a 1846 version of "The Blue Tail Fly". WARNING: This sound file includes one instance of the offensive referent that is often referred to as "the n word".
The Addendum also presents a clip of "Jimmy Crack Corn" from a Bugs Bunny cartoon as well as two comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
LYRICS FOR THE MOST OFTEN CITED CONTEMPORARY VERSION OF "JIMMY CRACK CORN" ("THE BLUE TAIL FLY")
The Blue Tail Fly (Jimmie Crack Corn)
Written By: Unknown
Copyright Unknown
When I was young I use' to wait
On massa an' hand him his plate
An' pass de bottle when he got dry
An' brush away de blue-tail fly
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
One day he ride aroun' de farm
De flies so num'rous they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on de thigh
De devil take de blue-tail fly!
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
De pony run, he jump he pitch
He threw my Massa in de ditch
He died an' de jury wondered why
De verdict was de blue-tail fly
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa'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 de blue-tail fly."
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Jimmie crack corn an' I don't care
Ol' Massa's gone away
Source: https://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/b034.html
-snip-
"Massa" = master
****
THEORIES ABOUT THE MEANING OF "CRACK CORN" IN THE SONG "JIM CRACK CORN" (most often contemporary given as "JIMMY CRACK CORN/THE BLUE TAIL FLY"
These excerpts are given in no particular order.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Crack_Corn
" "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue Tail Fly" is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s through performances by the Virginia Minstrels. It regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the beginning of the American folk music revival and has since become a popular children's song. Over the years, several variants have appeared.
Most versions include some idiomatic African English, although sanitized General American versions now predominate. The basic narrative remains intact. On the surface, the song is a black slave's lament over his white master's death in a horseriding accident. The song, however, can be—and is—interpreted as having a subtext of celebration about that death[3][4] and of the slave's having contributed to it through deliberate negligence[5][6] or even deniable action.
[...]
Melody
The melody is similar to "Miss Lucy Long" and was originally set for piano accompaniment,[3] although "De Blue Tail Fly" was marketed in Boston as one of "Emmett's Banjo Melodies".[22] The four-part chorus favors a single bass and three tenors: the first and third tenors harmonize in thirds with the second completes the triads or doubles the root, sometimes crossing the melody line.[3] The versions published in 1846 differed rather markedly: "De Blue Tail Fly" is modal (although Lhamar emends its B♭ notation to C minor) and hexatonic; "Jim Crack Corn", meanwhile, is in G major and more easily singable.[3] Its simplicity has made it a common beginner's tune for acoustic guitar.[23] The melody is a chain of thirds (G-B, F♯-A, G-B, [A]-C, B-D, C-E) harmonized a third above and below in the manner of the choruses in Italian opera.[3]
Meaning
The first verses usually establish that the singer was initially a house slave.[24] He is then charged with protecting the master out of doors—and his horse as well—from the "blue-tailed fly". This is possibly the blue-bottle fly[26] (Calliphora vomitoria[27] or Protophormia terraenovae), but probably the mourning horsefly (Tabanus atratus), a bloodsucking pest with a blue-black abdomen[28] found throughout the American South.[29][30] In this, the singer, ultimately, is unsuccessful; the horse begins to buck, and the master is thrown and killed. A coroner's jury is convened to investigate the master's death, or the singer is criminally charged with that death, but owing to the "blue-tail fly," the slave escapes culpability.
The chorus can be mystifying to modern listeners, but its straightforward meaning is that someone is roughly milling ("cracking") the old master's corn in preparation for turning it into hominy[33] or liquor.[34] There has been much debate, however, over the subtext. In the 19th century, the singer was often considered mournful and despondent at his master's death; in the 20th, celebratory: "Jimmy Crack Corn" has been called "the baldest, most loving account of the master's demise" in American song.[5]
The debate has been further muddled by changes to the refrain over time. Throughout the 19th century, the lines referred to "Jim",[2] "Jim Crack",[12] or "Jim Crack Corn"[37] and lacked any conjunction across the line's caesura; following the rise of highly-syncopated musical genres such as ragtime and jazz, anaptyxis converted the name to "Jimmy" or "Jimmie" and the "and" appeared, both putting more stress on their measures' backbeat. This has obscured some of the possible original meanings: some have argued that—as "Jim" was a generic name for slaves in minstrel songs—the song's "Jim" was the same person as its blackface narrator: Speaking about himself in the 3rd person or repeating his new masters' commands in apostrophe, he has no concern with his demotion to a field hand now that his old master is dead. Another now-obscured possible meaning derives from jim crack being eye dialect[40] for gimcrack ("worthless"[38][41]):[43] The narrator is so overcome with emotion (be it pleasure or sorrow) that he has no concern at all about his gimcrack cracked corn, his substandard rations.[3] Since "corn" was also a common rural American ellipsis and euphemism for "corn whiskey",[45] it could also refer to the slave being so overcome that he has no concern about his rotgut alcohol.[46]
Other suppositions include that "cracking" or "cracking corn" referred to the now-obsolete English and Appalachian slang meaning "to gossip" or "to sit around chitchatting";[47] that the singer is resting from his oversight duties and allowing Jim to steal corn or corn liquor; that "Jim Crack" is simply a synonym for "Jim Crow" by means of the dialectical "crack" to reference the crake; or that it is all code for the old master "Jim" cracking his "corn" (skull) open during his fall. The 1847 version of the song published in London singularly has the lyrics "Jim Crack com'", which could refer to a poor Southern cracker[48] (presumably an overseer or new owner) or a minced oath for Jesus Christ (thus referencing indifference at the Judgment Day); the same version explicitly makes the fly's name a wordplay on the earlier minstrel hit "Long Tail Blue", about a horse. A number of racehorses have been named "Jim Crack" or "Blue Tail Fly" and, in at least one early-20th century variant of the song, it's given as the name of the horse that killed the master,[49] but that is not a common element of the song. (Another uncommon variant appeared in the 1847 Songs of Ireland published in New York: it has the slave being given away by the master.[13])
Explanations of the song based upon "jimmy" or "jimmie" being slaves' slang for crows or mules (here being allowed into the old master's corn fields instead of being chased away) or deriving "jimmy" from "gimme" are unsupported by the existing records. Pete Seeger, for instance, is said to have maintained that the original lyrics were "gimme cracked corn" and referred to a punishment in which a slave's bacon rations were curtailed, leaving him chickenfeed;[50][53] the same lines could also just be asking for the whiskey jug to be passed around. The idea that Jim or Jimmy is "cracking open" a jug of whiskey is similarly unsupported: that phrasal verb is attested at least as early as 1803[54] but initially applied to literal ruptures; its application to opening the cap or cork of a bottle of alcohol was a later development.
History
The present song is generally credited to Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels,[10] whose shows in New York City in the mid-1840s helped raise minstrelsy to national attention.[55] Along with "Old Dan Tucker", the tune was one of the breakout hits of the genre[56] and continued to headline Emmett's acts with Bryant's Minstrels into the 1860s.[55] It was also a common song of Tom Rice's.[57] The song was first published (with two distinct sets of lyrics) in Baltimore and Boston in 1846, although it is sometimes mistakenly dated to 1844.[1] However, as with later rockabilly hits, it is quite possible Emmett simply received credit for arranging and publishing an existing African-American song.[11] The song was certainly picked up by slaves and became widely popular among them.[58] The chorus of the song not uncommonly appeared in the middle of other African-American folk songs, one of which may have been its original source.[59] The song differed from other minstrel tunes in long remaining popular among African Americans: it was recorded by both Big Bill Broonzy and Lead Belly after World War II.
Abraham Lincoln was an admirer of the tune, calling it "that buzzing song". Throughout the 19th century, it was usually accompanied by the harmonica or by humming which mimicked the buzzing of the fly (which on at least one occasion was noted disrupting the parliament of Victoria, Australia.[60]). Lincoln would ask his friend Ward Lamon to sing and play it on his banjo[61] and likely played along on his harmonica.[62] It is said that he asked for it to be played as the lead-in to his address at Gettysburg.[10][11]
Following World War II, the "Blue Tail Fly" was repopularized by the Andrews Sisters' 1947 recording with the folk singer Burl Ives. It then became part of the general Folk Revival through the '50s and early '60s before losing favor to more politically-charged fare, as parodied by Tom Lehrer's "Folk Song Army". A 1963 Time article averred that "instead of ... chronicling the life cycle of the blue-tailed fly", the "most sought-after folk singers in the business"—including Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, and Bob Dylan—were "singing with hot-eyed fervor about police dogs and racial murder".[63] All the same, Seeger claimed to have been present when Alan Lomax[65] first taught the song to Burl Ives for a CBS radio show[64] and their duet at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in 1993 was Ives' last public performance”…
-snip-
*I added italics to highlight these sentences.
****
Excerpt #2:
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=1141
[Note: Numbers assigned for this pancocojams post]
1. Origins: Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn)
Subject: RE: Blue-Tail Fly (lyric reguest)
From: belter
Date: 26 Mar 97 - 09:37 AM
"I just looked up blue-tail fly, and the notes sujest that cracked corn might be refering to wiskey. While that coule be, I wounder if it might mean corn that isn't soft enough to eat whole so its cracked up and used as slave rations, since it would be cheap, and although they couldn't have known, it's a lousy source of protein and hinders brain development if thats all you have to eat. I wounder how it got to be comon to use jimmie crack corn."
**
2.Subject: RE: Blue-Tail Fly (lyric reguest)
From: gargoyle
Date: 03 Apr 97 - 12:32 AM
"The "jimmy" is a variation of "gimme" or "give me"
This has a rich heritage in folk annals.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have heard it from a minstral show and it was one of his favorites. (Sorry, I don't have tyhe time to dig for the original reference at this moment.)"
**
3. Subject: RE: Lyr Add: (De) BLUE TAIL FLY
From: GUEST,freeatlast
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 05:21 PM
"The clue for 13 down in the January 13th, 2004 cryptic puzzle in the "Globe and Mail" was: "Poorly made Russian fighter goes up with a bang (8)".
The answer, of course, is GIMCRACK.
I know, I know… you don't care.
Anyway, "gimcrack" or "jimcrack" got me to thinking about the song and just what "Jim-crack Corn" might be. As the crossword clue says, gimcrack means "poorly made." And "corn," as we all know, is a care banishing beverage.
The narrator of the song says, "When I was young." This means he is no longer young. This would make him what -- old?
He's got a lot to think about; some of it is painful. His carefree youth when all he was required to do was to brush away a few flies might seem pretty golden when viewed through a whiskey bottle.
Jimcrack corn might just be cheap whiskey, moonshine, Tennessee wine, granny's rheumatiz medicine. It's still good for what ails you – especially at those moments when you realize that none of us are ever going to be free.
Cheers"
**
4. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue-Tail Fly
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 04:58 PM
..."Source: Leadbelly version of Jimmy Crack Corn" [Note: September 15, 2019: This hyperlink no longer viable.]
This site notes the following about the origin of this song:
"Credited to Daniel Emmett by Spaeth but it's likely that if he wrote it from other sources. One of the earliest publications was in a series credited to him -- but the absence of his name on the earliest copies goes far toward discrediting his authorship. The subtext for this song is that the slave in fact killed the master himself, blaming it on the blue-tail fly. This is hinted at, to varying degrees, in some versions of the song".
-snip-
There's alot of theories on what "Jimmy Crack Corn" means. Here's several theories from that same site -and notice that an anonymous poster from Mudcat Discussion Forum is mentioned:
"CRACK CORN? The Civil War song, Jimmy Cracked Corn, was one of Abe Lincoln's favorite songs! However, in the song, Jimmy wasn't really cracking corn. He was sleeping, and "cracking corn" was another term for snoring.
"Jimmy Crack Corn" was slang for "gimme cracked corn" or corn liquor. "Jimcrack o' corn and I don't care" "Jimcrack" is a measure of whiskey.
"Cracking corn" for telling jokes or tall tales: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless bunch of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode. G. Cochrane, 1766, in "Letters," 27 June. OED; The term comes from the Scottish-northern English word crack (crake), meaning boasting, which has been used in that sense from 1460 in print. See OED, 1971 and later eds. Georgia apparntly [sic] was first called the Cracker State in print in 1808, in "Balance," Verses by a Cracker Planter.
According to "The Cassel Dictionary of Slang" "Crack-Corn" referred to White People and originally meant the White natives of Kentucky. It was apparently a variation of "corncracker" which meant a poor white farmer and was apparently applied to the natives of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky or Tennessee possibly because of their dependance ]sic]on corn or maize. Corn in the British Isles refers to wheat, oats or barley as distinct from the American meaning. (From Mudcat Discussion Forum)"
-snip-
Other websites such as The Mavens' Word of the Day indicate that "To crack corn is to break or crush it into pieces".
Are there any other theories you want to throw in the mix?"
**
5. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue-Tail Fly
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 05:16 PM
"Yes there's mine, but I have nothing except word-of-mouth information. Here it is from my father. He told me in 1949, here in Victoria Australia:
"Jimmy is the old name for The Crow. The Crow was called Jimmy in England. 'Jimmy crack corn and I don't care' means that the Crow may crack, and eat, the corn because there's no one to care now that the 'Master' of the farm is dead."
If the teller of the tale had among his tasks the scaring of the birds, from the cornfield, this would make a lot of sense.
This ties in with my theory - and it's speculation, that the chorus of this song came from an English Crow-scaring song. I repeat - THE CHORUS of this song - only.
There are examples of crow-scaring songs from both England and America. Children were employed for this task and the songs were collected from them. I've never actually found an ancestor for this song but I live in hope.
For what it's worth. Cheers, Joy"
**
6. Subject: RE: Lyr Add: (De) Blue Tail Fly
From: GUEST,Black Deep
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 03:21 PM
"Crack Corn. Moon shine was made from cracked corn, then mixed with sugar and water and fermented, the distilled. Up until I was in my early 30's they called it cracking corn. Or another term for moonshining wisky."
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)