“Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.
During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)” - From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.
They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and other popular artists of the era. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs."
After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patty's choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.
After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patty appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: "Over Here!" which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patty) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patty's husband to the show's producers.
Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The last of the three sisters Patty Andrews died of natural causes at her home in Northridge, California on January 30, 2013, just 17 days before her 95th birthday. The sisters were interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, close to their parents.
Blue Tail Fly
The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On the boss and give him his plate
And pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away 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
And When he would 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 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
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 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
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
The Andrews Sisters' song Blue Tail Fly is a modified version of a folk song that originated in the African American community during the early 19th century. The song tells the story of a slave who was tasked with waiting on his master and following him around, swatting away the blue tail fly that continually bothered him. The slave was devoted to his master and would do anything to satisfy him, even going to the extent of preventing the troublesome fly from landing on him.
The repetitive chorus of "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care" is an indication of the slave's damaged spirit as he mourns the loss of his master who dies due to the bite of the blue-tailed fly. Even in death, the master's grave is adorned with an epitaph stating that he was a victim of the fly. The slave's resignation to the loss of his master and the futility of his efforts to protect him is reflected in the chorus of the song.
Overall, Blue Tail Fly is a poignant song on the theme of slavery in America. It highlights the devotion of a slave to his master despite his cruel treatment, and the injustice and cruelty of a system that forced one human being to become subservient to another.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was young, I used to wait
On the boss and give him his plate
And pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue tail fly
When I was a kid, I'd serve the man who employed me, giving him food and drink and brushing away annoying flies.
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 singer is repeating a meaningless phrase to express their apathy towards the departure of their former master.
And When he would ride in the afternoon
I'd follow after, with a hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by blue tail fly
Whenever my boss rode in the afternoon, I'd follow behind him wielding a broom to keep the horse calm in case it was bitten by a pesky fly.
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
On one occasion, while my boss was riding through the farm, he was swarmed by so many flies that one managed to bite him on the leg, causing him pain.
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
The horse was so spooked by the fly bite that it threw my boss off its back and into a ditch, where he died. His death was puzzling, and ultimately attributed to the irritating blue tail fly.
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"
My boss was buried under a tree, where his gravestone reads that he was a victim of the biting blue tail fly.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELIE SIEGMEISTER, WALTER F. KERR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@michaelpamphilon7513
The brilliant harmonies of The Andrews Sisters add so much to this absurd little, old ditty.
@dellawolfdove8927
Oh how I remember this. 😏 So appropriate for these times.🌎.
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