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Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? Related thread: Lyr Req: Tha fly and Big Mick (12) |
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Subject: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: GUEST Date: 05 Aug 21 - 06:56 PM i've recently seen references to this song, recorded by about 5 different artists, but my memory is of it sung by the Gingermen in Dublin in the late 1960s. I suspect it's much older than that but Google can't tell me how old. Anyone on here know ? |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Aug 21 - 07:19 PM You need to learn to use the search feature, unnamed guest. That song has been listed in the Digital Tradition for at least 20 years. That would be a good place to start looking for the answer. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: GUEST,# Date: 05 Aug 21 - 09:01 PM https://books.google.ca/books?id=UTMhAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=%22The+little+fly%22,+song+lyrics,+copyright&source=bl&ots=B That link shows two copyrights for songs entitled 'The Little Fly'. As yet I have look on further into either song to see if the lyrics match those sung by Seamus Kennedy, et.al. They could be completely different song altogether. However, I will not put more time into it unless the OP returns and replies to the thread s/he started. No offence, but I've had too much of my time wasted digging for stuff no one really gives a rat's rear about. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Aug 21 - 11:32 PM And it is incumbent upon that requestor to attempt to exhaust the data already here at Mudcat. I clicked on one answer when I did that search, but there were several that had possible information. It's always heartening to help someone who has tried to help themselves first. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Aug 21 - 01:32 AM Seems like a good excuse to consolidate the information we have on this song. And if there are too many threads on a song, I move the best messages into an "origins" thread. https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6470#507448 Thread #6470 Message #507448 Posted By: Seamus Kennedy 16-Jul-01 - 01:47 AM Thread Name: Lyr Req: Irish songs (thread closed) Subject: Lyr Add: THE LITTLE FLY
Aw, the heck with it. Here's the words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlknQ9sy28s From Joe Offer: looks like Seamus got his version from Foster & Allen, but I still think it has calypso roots: |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Aug 21 - 01:34 AM Mmario says the song was sung by Gilbert the Troubadour. Does that mean the song has filk roots? Thread #8835 Message #55620 Posted By: MMario 25-Jan-99 - 11:06 AM Thread Name: Lyr Req: Tha fly and Big Mick Subject: DTADD: THE FLY
Hah! I was pretty sure this was on my hard disk somewhere! Nope. Older than filk. I found a 1954 recording of "The Little Fly" in Calypso style by Lord Fly and His Orchestra. It was produced by Stanley Motta, Ltd., Kingston, Jamaica. Notes say that the song was composed by Rupert Lyons (Lord Fly), but I don't know if that's credible. Wish I could understand it well enough to transcribe it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGPEdsxRY0Y |
Subject: ADD Version: The Fly (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Aug 21 - 02:12 AM Oh, look at this - a recording by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, best known for "Over the Rainbow." https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Israel-Kamakawiwo%CA%BBole/The-Fly THE FLY (as recorded by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) CHORUS There was a little fly, he flew into the store, He do it on the table, he do it on the floor, He do it on the egg, he do it on the ham, He do it on the head of the little grocery man. The little grocery man, he run to get his gun, He said, "I'm gonna get this fly before this day was done," Before that he could count from one to ten, The little fly he do it on the grocery nan again.
...ish on the table, ...ish on the floor, ...ish on the egg, ...ish on the ham, .ish on the head of the little grocery man. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: GUEST,LF Date: 11 Jun 23 - 07:12 PM My Dad lived in Jamaica in 1954. He had two small children. He sang this song to my siblings & I as kids. Exactly like the 1954 version. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 11 Jun 23 - 09:54 PM THE NAUGHTY FLY Pg 25, The Book of a Thousand Laughs. Undated [1928]. See online here: https://archive.org/details/1928thebookofathousandlaughs/page/25/mode/1up?q=fly |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 11 Jun 23 - 10:07 PM THE FROLICSOME FLY Pg 28, Poems, Ballads and Parodies. Benares, Paris, 1923. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 12 Jun 23 - 07:08 AM Years ago, as a child, I heard a rhyme, more forceful May 1926, "Man and His Ills", California and Western Medicine, pg 670, vol XXIV, No. 5. See online: https://www.google.com/books/edition/California_and_Western_Medicine/jSTIU3ab184C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22fly+flew%22+%22into+the+grocery+store%22&pg=PA670&printsec=frontcover So if this article is by a doctor in his 30s... this would place the song to c1900. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 28 Aug 23 - 07:30 PM It was a very quite party all told & if old man bingham had a known May, 1920. letter to editor in Phi Alpha Gamma Quarterly, pg 79. See here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Phi_Alpha_Gamma_Quarterly/Cvnc6TZohN8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22flew+into+the+grocery+store%22&pg=PA79&printsec=frontcover |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 28 Aug 23 - 07:30 PM It was a very quite party all told & if old man bingham had a known May, 1920. letter to editor in Phi Alpha Gamma Quarterly, pg 79. See here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Phi_Alpha_Gamma_Quarterly/Cvnc6TZohN8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22flew+into+the+grocery+store%22&pg=PA79&printsec=frontcover |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 15 Jan 25 - 12:48 PM The Fly Undated [1960s?]. Transcription of the opening song of a reel to reel tape in the Kenneth Goldstein collection. Transcription is uncertain because of the Scottish accent is a little beyond me. This seems a compilation of bawdy Scottish songs. Listen here: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/kgreels_unk/358/ |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 22 Jan 25 - 05:48 AM Two Little Gnats April 26, 2005. Transcribed from the singing of Bob Coltman. Recording in the Jack Horntip Collection. Listen here: https://archive.org/download/jack_horntip_collection_field_recordings/0108%20Two%20Little%20Gnats%20%5BAka%20The%20Little%20Fly%20Who%20%28Fffftt%29%20On%20The%20Grocery%20Man%5D.mp3 |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Lighter Date: 22 Jan 25 - 02:02 PM There's a text in "G.I. Songs," by Edgar Palmer [Erich Posselt] (1944). I don't have it handy, but it most resembles that of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. The operative verb is, as I recall, "settled." |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Lighter Date: 22 Jan 25 - 02:33 PM "St. Albans [Girl Scout] Camp Song Book" (Allyn, WA), as part of a 3-stanza song, with the first two stanzas unrelated: A fly flew into a grocery store Alone teehee alone He’d never been in a store before Alone teehee alone Put his leg in the bread And his foot in the ham And stuck out his tongue at the grocery man And then he flew out of the store again Alone teehee alone https://www.girlscoutsww.org/content/dam/girlscoutsww-redesign/documents/top-pdfs/st-albans-camp-songbook.pdf Tune not indicated, but it scans to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." II Recited by an elderly lady: Jaybird jaybird flew through the store, He shit on the counter, and he shit on the floor. He wiped his ass with a piece of ham, Didn't give a penny to the grocery man. https://www.facebook.com/reel/913828717347782 III In the notebook of an American POW in Germany, 1944: O FEELTHY FLY A fly flew into the grocery store, He flew right in – by the front door, He fluttered round the bacon, And he fluttered round the ham, And finally lit on the strawberry jam. Oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, repulsive parasite. The fly looked here, the fly looked there, Under the table and under the chair. And into the office which was nearly dark, And there he spied the lady clerk. Oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, repulsive parasite. The fly lit on the lady’s shoe, Then up her stockings, both brand new. And when it had reached above the knee, He sat down to see what he could see. Oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, repulsive parasite. The lady clerk when she felt that fly, Settled upon her starboard thy, [sic She spread her knees and held her breath, And squashed that feelthy fly to death. Oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, oh feelthy fly, repulsive parasite. https://wallyswar.wordpress.com/pow-log/ |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: Lighter Date: 22 Jan 25 - 05:47 PM Lewiston [Me.] Journal (Dec. 20, 1958): "The vaudeville...show was a great success and they laughed uproariously over a song telling how 'A fly flew into a grocery store, A place he'd never been before!'" New Teller (York, Neb.) (July 3, 1940): "Someone ...[wrote] a parody of 'The Bowery"...like this: A fly flew into a grocery store, He'd only been there once before, He sit on the sugar, he sit on the ham, He didn't give a dam for the grocery man. [sic Sun-Democrat (Paducah, Ky) (Oct. 7, 1932): Do You Remember Way Back When?...Four midgets exhibited at the Opera House, about 1885. Tom Thumb and Minnie Warren were two of them. They sang: A fly flew into a grocery store, It lit on the counter, it lit on the floor, It lit on the bacon, it lit on the ham; And it darned near lit on the grocery man. Kennewick [Wash.] Courier (June 21, 1912): The fly flew into the grocery store, He flew right in through the old screen door; He lit on the cheese and he lit on the ham And he wiped his feet on the grocery man. Great Bend [Kans.] Tribune (Oct. 5, 1911): "A jaybird few into a grocery store, flew right in at the open door and lit on the sugar and lit on the ham and didn't give a [damn] for the pure food man." Nashville American (June 2, 1907): "A Little Fly flew in a grocery store; Of course you have heard all that before." Montreal Star (Jan. 11, 1894) [ad]: A fly flew into a grocery store And lit on ...A BOTTLE OF GRAY'S SYRUP. |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 22 Jan 25 - 07:47 PM Jonathan, thanks for the newspaper references. I don't have access to those archives. Oh, a fly flew into the grocery store. 1958. To the tune of "Turkey in the Straw" and collected by Robert Easton in Los Angeles. Printed in Ed Cray's The Erotic Muse, 2nd edition, pg.255. See here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Erotic_Muse/W8PvCRbEKLYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22flew+into+the+grocery+store%22&pg=PA255&printsec=frontcover |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 22 Jan 25 - 07:59 PM The Sniffing Song A version of "Cocaine Bill & Morphine Sue" performed by Reta Ray. The tune is The Bluetail Fly. It has the "Little Fly (Flew into the Grocery Store)" verses. Listen online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7mvod4bIc |
Subject: RE: Origins: How old is The Little Fly ? From: and e Date: 22 Jan 25 - 08:19 PM The Biography of a Fly The first couplet is done to the tune of "The Old One Hundred (All People That on Earth Do Dwell)". The rest is just recited. 1963. Joe Hickerson, on October 19-20, 1963, recorded a variety of singers in an informal song session; the primary informant was Jim Hitchcock. This collection (LC-AFS 17022) is in the Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |
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