Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me

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]

The lyrics are public domain:[9]

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]

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.

• John Brown's Body
• When Johnny Comes Marching Home

• Henry Reed's performance from the Library Of Congress