Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me

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Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me

Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me! is a song from the 1860s minstrel show which remained popular since then. The song was sung during the Spanish-American War of 1898 by soldiers, when flies and yellow fever mosquitoes were rampant. Today, the song is well known as a children song and had been recorded on many children’s records, including Disney Children's Favorite Songs 3. [1]

Lyrics

Shew! fly, don’t bother me,

Shew! fly, don’t bother me,

Shew! fly, don’t bother me,

I belong to Comp’ny G.

I feel, I feel, I feel,

That’s what my mother said,

Whenever this nigger goes to sleep,

He must cover up his head.

If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,

If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,

If I sleep in the sun this nigger knows,

A fly come sting him on the nose.

Five Little Monkeys

“Five little monkeys jumping on the bed

“One fell off and bumped his head?” [2]

Controversy

Shoo Fly Don’t Bother me tells about an enslaved man who is trying to sleep, but gets bothered by a fly. The lyrics may seem normal, it is because of being https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewashing_(censorship) whitewashed] after integration. According to wikipedia.org, the term whitewashed means "to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data". [3]

The lyrics are not the original of the song as it used to be “five little niggers lying in the bed.” However, it was changed from “niggers” to "monkey", which did not make the song any better. [4]

The rhyme had troubling lyrics, it can be seen on the verses which were shockingly racist as it contains the N-word, as well as the story behind the song which was written by a white man and was assigned to a balck company of soldiers. The writer of the song did it intentionally to put down people with darker skin than him. [5]

Though this rhyme is widely taught and had been incorporated into Disney lore, the original lyrics contain a racial slur in which describing how a fly hovered over a sleeping black man. [6]

References

  1. Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me. wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  2. Taylor Europa, Mildred. Nine nursery rhymes you probably didn’t realize were racist. January 8, 2020. face2faceafrica.com. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  3. Whitewashing (censorship). wikipedia.org. Retrieved February 6, 2021
  4. Taylor, Mildred Europa. Nine nursery rhymes you probably didn’t realize were racist. January 18, 2020. face2faceafrica.com. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  5. Ellingsen, Andrew. SHOO FLY: WHAT I LEARNED, AND HOW I ADDRESSED IT. June 5, 2019. decolonizingthemusicroom.com. Retrieved February 6, 2021
  6. Fernandez, Lisa. https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/02/18/music-together-kids-program-pulls-two-songs-after-palo-alto-mom-complains-of-racism/. August 13, 2016. mercurynews.com. Retrieved February 6, 2021