Blue-Tail Fly, The

Clare Grundman

Clare Grundman

This article is a stub. If you can help add information to it, please join the WRP and visit the FAQ (left sidebar) for information.

General Info

Year: 1951
Duration:
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes

Cost: Score and Parts - Out of print.

For availability information, see Discussion area.

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
Cornets Solo-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium (Bass Clef & Treble Clef)
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion

(percussion detail needed)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

"Jim Crack Corn" or Blue Tail Fly is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s, regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the beginning of the folk revival, and has since become a popular children's song under the name Jimmy Crack Corn.

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 riding accident. The song, however, can be—and is—interpreted as having a subtext of celebration about that death and of the slave's having contributed to it through deliberate negligence or even deniable action.

-Program Note from Wikipedia

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Ventura County (Calif.) Concert Band (Julie Judd, conductor) - 12 April 2015

Works for Winds by this Composer

• American Folk Rhapsody No. 1
• American Folk Rhapsody No. 2 (1959)
• American Folk Rhapsody No. 3 (1970)
• American Folk Rhapsody No. 4 (1977)
• Bernstein Tribute, A (as arranger)
• The Blue and the Gray (1961)
• The Blue and the Gray (arr. Longfield) (1961/2013)
• Blue-Tail Fly, The (1951)
• Burlesque for Band (1967)
• Chorale from "Concord" (arr. Longfield) (1988/2018)
• Concord (1987)
• Concertante for Alto Sax and Band (1973)
• Copland Portrait, A
• Copland Tribute, A (as arranger)
• English Christmas, An (1982)
• English Suite (1968)
• Fantasy on American Sailing Songs (1952)
• Fantasy on English Hunting Songs (1985)
• The Green Domino (1951)
• Hebrides Suite (1962)
• Irish Rhapsody, An (1971)
• Japanese Rhapsody (1969)
• Kentucky 1800
• Little English Suite (1968)
• Little Suite for Band
• A Medieval Story (1966)
• Music for a Carnival (1957)
• Nocturne for Harp and Band
• Quiet Christmas (1959)
• Scottish Rhapsody, A
• Second American Folk Rhapsody (1959)
• Somerset Rhapsody, A (as transcriber) (1906/1927/1980)
• Spirit of '76 (1964)
• Three Sketches for Winds (1969)
• Two Moods (1947)
• Tuba Rhapsody
• Welsh Rhapsody, A
• Western Dance (1968)

References

• Grundman, C. (1951). The Blue-Tail Fly [score]. Boosey & Hawkes: [s.l.]
• Jimmy Crack Corn, Wikipedia