Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me

"Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me!" is a minstrel show song from the 1860s that has remained popular since that time. It was sung by soldiers during the Spanish–American War of 1898, when flies and the yellow fever mosquito were a serious enemy. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along (1959). Today, it is commonly sung by children, and has been recorded on many children's records, including Disney Children's Favorite Songs 3, performed by Larry Groce and the Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus.

Sheet music cover page for "Shoo Fly" (1869) by Thomas Wilson

Composition

The song's origin was reported in an anonymously written 1895 New York Herald article on the history of minstrel show dancing. That article credits a female Afro-Caribbean singer with bringing "Shoo Fly" to the U.S., where it was adopted and altered by various blackface performers: "'Shoo-Fly' is said to have come originally from the Isthmus of Panama, where the Black people sang 'Shoo Fly' and 'Don't Bodder Me' antiphonally while at their work. A Black person from there, Helon Johnson, took it first to California and taught the song to 'Billy' Birch [a performer with the San Francisco Minstrels troupe]. ‘Dick’ Carroll and others also had versions of it which they performed. Delehanty and Hengler had theirs, too, and used to sing it as an encore with Bryant’s Minstrels, slipping on old dresses over their heads in the interim of the score. It was from hearing them that ‘Dave’ [Reed] and ‘Dan’ [Bryant] fancied he song. ‘Dave’ fixed it up with a dance, and original version thereof. It was rehearsed secretly, and when the time came they ‘sprang it’ on ‘the boys’ of the company one evening in public, with ‘Come and Kiss Me’ as an encore. It was a howling success from the start, and ‘Dan’ Bryant had printed the next day at the Herald office twenty thousand notices, which he gave to the company and others to scatter about the town wherever they went. Horse shoes with a fly on them were put in odd and conspicuous places, even on the telegraph wires, and in no time the public was crazy over the act and 'business was great.' E.M. Hall has a version with a more elaborate and an excellent chorus, ending 'Shoo Fly, &c., "Go 'way, fly, I'll cut your wing.”'.[1] Despite multiple competing claims to composition of "Shoo Fly," it does seem Bryant's Minstrels, as described in the Herald account, was the first group to popularize the song, in 1869-70.[2][3]

"Shoo Fly" is among the songs ("John Brown's Body" is another) claimed as compositions by T. Brigham Bishop.[4] According to Bishop's account, he wrote "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" during the Civil War while assigned to command a company of black soldiers. One of the soldiers, dismissing some remarks of his fellow soldiers, exclaimed "Shoo fly, don't bother me," which inspired Bishop to write the song, including in the lyrics the unit's designation, "Company G". Bishop claimed that the song was "pirated" from him, and that he made little money from it.[2] Bishop published a sheet music version of the song in 1869 (White, Smith & Perry). That version includes the caption, "Original Copy and Only Authorized Edition."[5]

Other sources have credited Billy Reeves (lyrics) and Frank Campbell, or Rollin Howard, with the song.[6] An early publication appeared as "Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me. Comic Song and Dance or Walk Round. Sung by Cool Burgess and Rollin Howard, melody by Frank Campbell, words by Billy Reeves, arr. by Rollin Howard." [7][8]

Lyrics

The lyrics are public domain:[9]


Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.

I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star.

Oh, shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.

The lyrics have been altered to remove content from the original song long considered offensive, so that today only the chorus is sung. The original version reads thus:[7]


I think I hear the angels sing,
I think I hear the angels sing,
I think I hear the angels sing,
The angels now are on the wing.

I feel, I feel, I feel,
That's what my mother said,
The angels pouring 'lasses down,
Upon this nigger's head.

Shew! fly, don't bother me,
Shew! fly, don't bother me,
Shew! fly, don't bother me,
I belong to Comp'ny G.

I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.

If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,
If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,
If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,
A fly come sting him on the nose.

I feel, I feel, I feel,
That's what my mother said,
Whenever this nigger goes to sleep,
He must cover up his head.

Shew! fly, don't bother me,
Shew! fly, don't bother me,
Shew! fly, don't bother me,
I belong to Comp'ny G.

I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I feel, I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.

During a dinner table scene in the 1992 teen comedy Encino Man, Stoney Brown (Pauly Shore) quietly sings "Shoo Fly" while Link (Brendan Fraser) tracks a fly around the room.

In the 1998 Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life, Francis the Ladybug references the song's title. The Australian children's show Play School recorded a version for the albums There's A Bear In There, sung by Noni Hazlehurst, and In The Car, sung by John Hamblin.

See also

References
  1. New York Herald, August 11, 1895, Section Four, p. 2. https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895%20-%204814.pdf
  2. (8 November 1905). The Author of "Shoo Fly", Reading Eagle (stating that T. Allston Brown, had vouched for this account)
  3. Cropsey, Eugene H. Crosby's Opera House: symbol of Chicago's cultural awakening, p. 270 (1999)
  4. "Music: Hymn from Maine". Time. 1935-07-01. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
  5. Shoo Fly, Duke University library collection
  6. The blue book of Tin Pan Alley, p. 9 (1965)
  7. "Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me" Words and music: T. Brigham Bishop (?); pub.:White, Smith & Perry, Boston, 1869.
  8. Eric Partridge and Paul Beale, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day, pp. 408–409. Published by Routledge, 1986, SBN 041505916X, 9780415059169.
  9. "Grandparents.com - For Grandparents, Parents & Grandchildren". Grandparentsmagazine.net. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
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