The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122344   Message #2682633
Posted By: Songster Bob
17-Jul-09 - 10:50 PM
Thread Name: Which fly was Lincoln's 'Buzzing song'?
Subject: RE: Which fly was Lincoln's 'Buzzing song'?
No. However, the "scratch 'im wid a briar, too" was the minstrel show version, with a banjo phrase between each line as sung, and, since Lincoln supposedly played "The buzzing song" on harmonica, my guess is that the "Jim Crack Corn" tune is more likely. The other is a modal tune, after all, and less likely to fit on a diatonic-scale harmonica. Yes, I know you can play 'em that way (start on the D note on a C harp, for instance), but it's tricky and not so tuneful.

My guess is it was the Jim-Crack version Lincoln played. Just a guess, but a "larned" one, I swan.

Bob