The Boll Weevil Song
Composer:
American Traditional
Genre: World / Folk
Decade: before 1923
Submitted by: Russell Ambrose
Description:
From Wikipedia?"Boll Weevil" is a traditional blues song, also known by similar titles such as "Boweavil" or "Boll Weevil Blues." Although many songs about the boll weevil were recorded by blues musicians during the 1920s, `30s and `40s, this one has become well known, thanks perhaps to Lead Belly`s rendition of it as recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax in 1934. A 1961 adaptation by Brook Benton became a pop hit, reaching number two on the charts. There is also a monument in Enterprise, AL dedicated to this famous bug.LyricsThe lyrics deal with the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis), a beetle, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers, that migrated into the U.S. from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, causing severe devastation to the industry.[edit]OriginsThe song is known to be "at least a century old."[1]Perhaps as early as 1908,[1] blues pioneer Charley Patton wrote a song called "Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues" and recorded it in July 1929 (as "The Masked Marvel") for Paramount Records. Some of the lyrics are similar to "Boll Weevil," describing the first time and "the next time" the narrator saw the boll weevil and making reference to the weevil`s family and home. "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey recorded a song called "Bo-Weavil Blues" in Chicago in December 1923, and Bessie Smith covered it in 1924, but the song had little in common with Lead Belly`s "Boll Weevil" aside from the subject matter. In both Jaybird Coleman`s "Boll Weevil," from the late 1920s, and Blind Willie McTell`s, from the 1930s, we find the element of a dialogue between the boll weevil and a farmer.[2] W.A. Lindsey & Alvin Condor`s "Boll Weevil" recorded February 24, 1928 contains these same elements.[3]But the first version to include all the hallmarks of the song is Lead Belly`s, first recorded by Lomax on October 15, 1934 in Shreveport, Louisiana.[edit]Later versionsLead Belly himself re-recorded the song a number of times between 1934 and his death in 1949, with slightly different lyrics. The following is a list of cover versions by other artists.
by: Russell Ambrose