Jimmy Crack Corn


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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

My grandma used to tell me that Cracking Corn was slang for snoring. So Jimmy was actually asleep. Not sure if that's right though.

I know when they'd feed the animals with dried corn, you'd have to crack it into smaller pieces and that's where the sound would come from.

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

When I was young I used to wait

On master and hand him his plate

Pass him the bottle when he got dry

And brush away the blue-tail fly

Chorus

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

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

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

When he would ride in the afternoon

I'd follow him with my hickory broom

The pony being rather shy

When bitten by the blue-tail fly

Chorus

One day he rode around the farm

Flies so numerous that they did swarm

One chanced to bite him on the thigh

The devil take the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Well the pony jumped, he start, he pitch

He threw my master in the ditch

He died and the jury wondered why

The verdict was the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Now he lies beneath the 'simmon tree

His epitaph is there to see

"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie

The victim of the blue-tail fly"

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

Scratch around and you'll find some interesting takes on this song. When we consulted Tom Miller, Straight Dope curator of music, he told us about an interpretation he'd picked up from Charlie Maddox, a musician in Shenandoah, Virginia. Maddox said "crack corn" came from the old English term "crack," meaning gossip, and that "cracking corn" was a traditional Shenandoah expression for "sitting around chitchatting." Maddox claimed "Jimmy Crack Corn" was an abolitionist song, and that "blue-tail fly" referred to federal troops in their blue uniforms overthrowing the slave owners.

A conspicuous defect of this theory is that "Jimmy Crack Corn," published in 1846, is attributed to an outfit called the Virginia Minstrels. The Virginia Minstrels helped originate the blackface minstrel show, not one of your prime vehicles for abolitionist sentiment. The author of the song, though not definitely known, was probably a Virginia Minstrel named Daniel Emmett, a popular songwriter and musician whose best-known composition was the southern anthem "Dixie" (1859). Like his contemporary Stephen Foster, Emmett was a northerner who wrote sentimental songs about the south in black dialect. So don't go looking for any deep social message.

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

[ QUOTE ]

Scratch around and you'll find some interesting takes on this song. When we consulted Tom Miller, Straight Dope curator of music, he told us about an interpretation he'd picked up from Charlie Maddox, a musician in Shenandoah, Virginia. Maddox said "crack corn" came from the old English term "crack," meaning gossip, and that "cracking corn" was a traditional Shenandoah expression for "sitting around chitchatting." Maddox claimed "Jimmy Crack Corn" was an abolitionist song, and that "blue-tail fly" referred to federal troops in their blue uniforms overthrowing the slave owners.

A conspicuous defect of this theory is that "Jimmy Crack Corn," published in 1846, is attributed to an outfit called the Virginia Minstrels. The Virginia Minstrels helped originate the blackface minstrel show, not one of your prime vehicles for abolitionist sentiment. The author of the song, though not definitely known, was probably a Virginia Minstrel named Daniel Emmett, a popular songwriter and musician whose best-known composition was the southern anthem "Dixie" (1859). Like his contemporary Stephen Foster, Emmett was a northerner who wrote sentimental songs about the south in black dialect. So don't go looking for any deep social message.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great, 2 more pieces of useless trivia I can regail Tom with now.

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

[ QUOTE ]

Funny thing just happened! One minute I was reading this post, and the next minute I found myself starring at the wall, mouth slightly agape and drool starting to form.............

Words, words, words, words, corn, words, words, words, words.........

[/ QUOTE ]

Did your eyes cross Tom?

words, words, words, cracked corn, words words, bait pile, words, words, control panel, words words, Killians's, words words, pick up sweet corn at Chris', words, words....

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

[ QUOTE ]

whoa...slow day at Britton Animal Clinic I see....

[/ QUOTE ]

Must really be.

Hey, I have an idea Dogdoc...why don't you start planning the JB prototype for the next time you have to put JB together again after the next tree falls on him or the next big earthquake swallows him up.

I am thinking that maybe you could take one of those spare dog legs you got hanging around over there and implant it in the side of JB's neck. JB would look kind of cool with a lab leg in the side of his head. It could be functional too...he could prop it on his shoulder and use it as a headrest during slow times in the blind. He could use it like a kickstand when laying on the floor watching TV.

Heck, he could use it as a fourth anchor point on whatever bow he is shooting today.

laugh.gif

New

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

[ QUOTE ]

Did your eyes cross Tom?

words, words, words, cracked corn, words words, bait pile, words, words, control panel, words words, Killians's, words words, pick up sweet corn at Chris', words, words....

[/ QUOTE ]

Gee Chris that message was easier to understand than finding the head in the beans. Better bring the Killian's Tom.

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Re: Jimmy Crack Corn

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

Funny thing just happened! One minute I was reading this post, and the next minute I found myself starring at the wall, mouth slightly agape and drool starting to form.............

Words, words, words, words, corn, words, words, words, words.........

[/ QUOTE ]

Did your eyes cross Tom?

words, words, words, cracked corn, words words, bait pile, words, words, control panel, words words, Killians's, words words, pick up sweet corn at Chris', words, words....

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy schmokes I'm laughing hard right now. grin.gif

New's post was classic too.

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