161:'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, Helen Johnson, took it first to California and taught the song to 'Billy' Birch . ‘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’ and ‘Dan’ fancied the 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.”'.
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184:. 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. Bishop published a sheet music version of the song in 1869 (
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In the 1994 movie "Maverick", starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster the song is being played by the brass band on the Lauren Belle riverboat prior to the big card game. (1hr 19mins into the movie).
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The song became popular on the minstrel stage in 1869, and several claims have been made for its composition. An anonymously written 1895 New York
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https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895%20-%204814.pdf
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577:"Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me" Words and music: T. Brigham Bishop (?); pub.:White, Smith & Perry, Boston, 1869.
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The song was included in one of the jukebox songs in the edutainment PC game, Jumpstart 2nd Grade.
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Crosby's Opera House: symbol of
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It was frequently employed as background music in classic
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The song was sing as one of the songs in Walter Lantz’
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Henry Reed's performance from the
Library Of Congress
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During a dinner table scene in the 1992 teen comedy
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A Dictionary of Catch
Phrases: British and American
324:It has been used in Tuneland with a flying shoe.
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176:"Shoo Fly" is among the songs ("
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434:When Johnny Comes Marching Home
395:The Australian children's show
279:The angels now are on the wing.
276:I think I hear the angels sing,
273:I think I hear the angels sing,
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295:Upon this nigger's head.
186:White, Smith & Perry
128:Join Bing and Sing Along
404:There's A Bear In There
329:Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
282:I feel, I feel, I feel,
217:I feel, I feel, I feel,
211:I feel, I feel, I feel,
248:My mother said to me.
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505:on December 22, 2011
115:Spanish–American War
686:Songs about insects
681:American folk songs
522:(8 November 1905).
468:Cropsey, Eugene H.
331:cartoon, “Alaska”.
288:The angels pouring
623:Verses Old and New
567:. 1965. p. 9.
303:In popular culture
167:Bryant's Minstrels
633:978-1-5255-6660-8
429:John Brown's Body
182:T. Brigham Bishop
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119:yellow fever
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92:Billy Reeves
398:Play School
315:Pauly Shore
145:Composition
139:Larry Groce
123:Bing Crosby
87:Lyricist(s)
80:Larry Groce
75:Composer(s)
671:1869 songs
660:Categories
509:2012-03-09
440:References
415:, sung by
413:In The Car
407:, sung by
354:Animaniacs
336:Betty Boop
310:Encino Man
452:New York
546:Shoo Fly
423:See also
338:cartoon
454:Herald,
290:'lasses
43:Written
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411:, and
380:Disney
363:, and
203:Lyrics
151:Herald
386:film
384:Pixar
292:down,
109:is a
52:Genre
46:1860s
628:ISBN
499:Time
37:Song
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