Crack Corn - Teachers Discussion

A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's storehouse of human knowledge
Who is Jimmy, and why does he crack corn?

30-Oct-1998
Weekly Illustration

Dear Cecil:

Who is Jimmy, and why does he crack corn? --Nruggierbc, via AOL

Cecil replies:

I don't care. OK, so it's obvious. Sue me.

As you know from this column's previous attempts, song interpretation is not a science, and the passage of time hasn't made things any easier. A hundred years from now God knows what they'll make of "Stairway to Heaven." "Jimmy Crack Corn" (originally "Jim Crack Corn") tells the story of a slave whose job is "to wait on Massa and hand him de plate / Pass down de bottle when he git dry / And bresh away de blue-tail fly." Among the things he's supposed to bresh away de blue-tail fly from is Massa's pony, using a hickory broom. One day when the flies are especially thick, one gets through and bites . . . well, either Massa or the pony, you can't quite tell. Anyway, the pony bolts, Massa pitches into the ditch and dies, and the coroner's jury blames the blue-tail fly. "Jim[my] crack corn, I don't care / Ole Massa gone away."

Scratch around and you'll find some interesting takes on this song. When we consulted Tom Miller, Straight Dope curator of music, he told us about an interpretation he'd picked up from Charlie Maddox, a musician in Shenandoah, Virginia. Maddox said "crack corn" came from the old English term "crack," meaning gossip, and that "cracking corn" was a traditional Shenandoah expression for "sitting around chitchatting." Maddox claimed "Jimmy Crack Corn" was an abolitionist song, and that "blue-tail fly" referred to federal troops in their blue uniforms overthrowing the slave owners.

A conspicuous defect of this theory is that "Jimmy Crack Corn," published in 1846, is attributed to an outfit called the Virginia Minstrels. The Virginia Minstrels helped originate the blackface minstrel show, not one of your prime vehicles for abolitionist sentiment. The author of the song, though not definitely known, was probably a Virginia Minstrel named Daniel Emmett, a popular songwriter and musician whose best-known composition was the southern anthem "Dixie" (1859). Like his contemporary Stephen Foster, Emmett was a northerner who wrote sentimental songs about the south in black dialect. So don't go looking for any deep social message.

Still, who is Jimmy and why did he crack corn? Maybe it's about gossip, like the man said. But an equally plausible theory I've heard is that "cracking corn" means cracking open a jug of corn liquor. Try it next time your Massa goes away, and after a half dozen verses you won't care either.

--CECIL ADAMS

Jimmy, again - Teachers Discussion

As Earthling says, crack corn is animal feed. It was also subsistence (punishment) rations for slaves. The lyrics could also have been "Gimme crack corn and I don't care"....because the master's dead and "gone away"

jimmy crack corn - Teachers Discussion

When I was younger I cared for horses and part of the feed mixture was crack corn which was dried corn kernels which were broken into pieced by a cracking machine, thus crack corn.

Gimcrack Corn and I dont care - Teachers Discussion

Thanks very much AMONK. That was really interesting. Gimcrack. Where did you find that word? I wonder if gim is related to gimlet. Maybe the term poor white crackers or moonshiners is also related.

Jimmy Crack Corn ????? - Teachers Discussion

This old song ``Jimmy crack corn and I dont care, the masters gone away`` is from the slave era of US history.

What does it mean about the crack corn? It would make sense if it read pop corn.
If someone understands can they reply here and write me directly?

Thanks, appreciated