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Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown; North Carolina- USA; Widely spread.
ARTIST: From Ken Haferman, a banjoist from Milwaukee;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Early 1900’s;
OTHER NAMES: “Blue-Eyed Girl,” “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss;” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” "Susannah Gal," "Blue Eyed Miss." “Fly Around My Pretty Little Pink”
RELATED TO: “Shady Grove,” “Weevily Wheat" (floating lyrics); "Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle)" (floating lyrics); "Up and Down the Railroad Track" (floating lyrics); "Missus in the Big House" (meter). Say, Darling, Say ; Where Are You Going ; Washing Mama's Dishes ; Black Jack Davy (Tune) ; Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees Daisy ; Shady Grove; Betty Anne;
RECORDING INFO: Samantha Bumgarner, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 146, 1924); Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15709-D, c. 1931) Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927); Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702); Blackard, Dad;'s Moonshiners. It'll Never Happen Again. Old Time String Bands, Vol. 1, Marimac 9110, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Blevins, Frank; and His Tarheel Rattlers. Ballads and Breakdowns of the Golden Era, Columbia CS 9660, LP (196?), cut#B.06 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Original Bogtrotters, Biograph RC 6003, LP (196?), cut# 11; Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Cedar Point String Band. Cedar Point String Band, Roane, Cas (1993), cut# 11 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockram, Grover. Old Five String, Vol 2, Heritage (Galax) 052, Cas (1991), cut# 6 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 5 (Susannah Gal); Crisp, Rufus. Rufus Crisp, Folkways FA 2342, LP (1972), cut#A.02 (Blue Eyed Gal); Douglas, Wilson. Boatin' Up the Sandy, Marimac AHS 1, Cas (1989), cut# 3 (Blue Eyed Miss); East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Feldmann, Peter. How to Play Clawhammer Banjo, Sonyatone STI-104, LP (1975), cut# 10 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Gaskin, Phyllis. Mountain Dulcimer - Galax Style, Heritage (Galax) 094C, Cas (1991), cut# 8 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Vol.II, Bay 103, LP (197?), cut# 3 (Susannah Gal); Herald Angels. You've Been a Friend to Me, Herald Angels HA1001, Cas (1994), cut# 18 (Fly Around); Hicks, Buna. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol II, Folk Legacy FSA-023, LP (1965), cut# 18 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hillbillies. Fiddlers Convention in Mountain City, Tennessee, County 525, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Blue Eyed Gal) ; Honig, Peter. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), cut# 36 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Part 1, Folkways FA 2355, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Iron Mountain String Band (Galax). Music from the Mountain, Heritage (Galax) 101C, Cas (1992), cut# 5 (Old Time Flyin' Around); Jarrell, Tommy; and Kyle Creed. June Apple, Mountain 302, LP (1972), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Kazee, Buell. Buell Kazee, June Appal JA 0009, LP, cut# 6a (Blue Eyed Gal); Kazee, Buell. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 3/3, p34 (Pretty Little Miss); Kimble Family. Pine Knots School Rowdies, Marimac 9037, Cas (1992), cut# 14 (Susannah Gal); Kincaid, Bradley. Bradley Kincaid. Volume 2, Old Homestead OHCS 155, LP (1984), cut#A.06 (Pretty Little Pink); Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), cut#A.01 (Fly Away My Pretty Little Miss); Lundy, Emmett. Fiddle Tunes from Grayson County, String 802, LP (1977), cut# 17 (Susannah Gal); Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Appalachian Minstrel, Washington VM 736, LP (1956), cut#B.02 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Mabus, Joel. Clawhammer, Fossil, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Pretty Little Pink); Michael, McCreesh & Campbell. Host of the Air, Front Hall FHR-023, LP (1980), cut# 3 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Mill Run Dulcimer Band. Sunday at the Mill, Lark LRLP 3094, LP (1980), cut#A.01; Moore, Charlie. Charlie Moore Sings Good Bluegrass, Vetco LP 3011, LP (196?), B.01 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 3, Folkways FA 2398, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p 66 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Old Reliable String Band. Old Reliable String Band, Folkways FA 2475, LP (1963), cut#A.01 (Fly Around); Old Virginia Fiddlers. Old Time Fiddle, Patrick County, VA, County 201, LP (1977), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Pegram, George; and Parham, Red (Walter). Pickin' and Blowin', Riverside RLP 12-60, LP (195?), cut# 9 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Piney Creek Weasels. Squirrel Heads and Gravy, Hay Holler HHH-1101, CD (1996), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Powell, Dirk. Hand Me Down, Rounder 0444, CD (1999), cut# 5; Price, Truman; and Jane Keefer. Songs and Tunes of the Oregon Trail, True West TW C-21, Cas (1991), cut# 13; Ramsey, Obray. Obray Ramsey Sings Folksongs from the Three Laurels, Prestige International INT 13020, LP (195?), cut#B.03 (Shady Grove); Reed, Ola Belle. Ola Belle Reed, Rounder 0021, LP (1973), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Russell Family. Old Time Dulcimer Sounds from the Mountains, County 734, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Old Susannah); Sexton, Lee "Boy". Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.62 (Fly Around); Shelor Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), cut# 11 (Jaybird Died with the Whooping Cough); Smith, Hobart. Banjo Songs, Ballads and Reels from the Southern Mountains, Prestige International INT 25004, LP (196?), cut# 15 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Smith, Hobart. Southern Journey. Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns, Rounder 1702, CD (1997), cut#17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Stoneman, Ernest; and the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers. Day in the Mountains, County 512, LP (196?), cut# 7e (Possum Trot School Exhibition) ; Ward, Wade. Uncle Wade. A Memorial to Wade Ward, Old Time Virginia Banjo ..., Folkways FA 2380, LP (1973), cut# 2; Whitetop Mountain Band. Seedtime on the Cumberland. Sampler 1990-91, June Appal JA 0067C, Cas (1992), cut# 1 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702)
SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 66, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; Darling-NAS, p. 254, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss"; Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal";
NOTES: "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" is derived from the English ballad "Sixteen Next Sunday" also entitled "Seventeen next Sunday." "Fare Thee Well My Pretty Little Miss" by John Carson is another related variant of "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss." (Rounder Records, Fiddlin' John Carson - "The Old Hen Cackled and the Roosters Goin' to Crow).
"Sixteen Next Sunday" from Jean Ritchie's father has the "Fly Around" verse.
Here's the starting verses of Dad's version:
Where are you goin my pretty little miss,
Where are you goin my daisy?
O, if I don't get me a young man soon
I think I'm a-goin crazy.
Chorus: Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-diddle diddle dum,
Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-doody;
Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-diddle-diddle dum,
Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-doody.
How old are you my pretty little miss,
How old are you my honey?
Well, if I don't die of a broken heart
I'll be sixteen next Sunday!
A version of "Sixteen" entitled, "Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid?" was collected in the Catskill Mountains, New York.
From my notes I have the tune of "Sixteen Next Sunday" based on the old melody "Boyne Water." Lucy Broadwood traces the melody to the dance tune "The Collier's Bonnie Lassie," printed in William Thompson's Orpheus Caledonius 1725, but Cazden finds the resemblance quite remote.
Among the several early recordings of "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" was a version by the Ashe County, North Carolina, string band Frank Blevins and His Tar Hell Rattlers, a name made up on the spot at the 1927 Columbia recording session in Atlanta for 16 year old fiddler Frank Blevins, his older brother and guitarist Ed Blevins and banjo player Fred Miller.
Blevins led the band with spirited fiddling and singing that belied his age. Inspired by a few shots of Georgia corn liquor, they first recorded the traditional mountain dance tune Sally Ann, a rendition with such verve and passion that it rivals any other. Next they performed I've Got No Honey Babe Now, a song that shares some lyrics with the old banjo piece Honey Babe, but with a different melody. Old Aunt Betsy was a Frank Blevins original, combining a simple theme with exuberant delivery. The session ended with a second traditional dance tune, Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss.
MORE NOTES: The “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” songs are related to be a branch of the “I’ll be Sixteen Next Sunday/Sixteen Next Sunday" or “I’ll be Seventeen Next Sunday” songs which can be traced to England. The English Song, “The Sign of the Bonnie Blue Bell,” is also related to the “I’ll be Seventeen Next Sunday” songs.
"Betty Anne," collected by Cecil Sharp, is one of the earliest Appalachian versions of "Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss," the 1916 date precedes Samantha Bumgarner's 1924 recording by eight years. There are many floater fiddle tune lyrics with "Shady Grove," "Wheevily Wheat," and "Polly Ann" in this fiddle tune family.
LYRICS:
The higher up the plum tree,
The sweeter grow the plums.
The more the carpenter plies his trade,
The broader grow his thumbs.
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