"Boll Weevil" is a traditional blues song, also known by similar titles such as "Dixie Boll Weevil" or "Boll Weevil Blues". Many songs about the boll weevil, with varying tunes and/or varying lyrics, were recorded by blues musicians during the 1920s through the 1940s.
However the Texas version (with the familiar just looking for a home verse) collected by John Lomax in 1909 from a blind singer (probably Madkin Butler) from Hearne, Texas and subsequently recorded by Leadbelly in 1934 and (his best known version) in 1939, led to its becoming well-known.
A 1961 adaptation by Brook Benton became a pop hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
At the bottom of this post I've put a few songs, with a different title and lyrics, whose melody is clearly derived from this particular Boll Weevil version
In addition, I also put a number of Boll Weevil songs, which only share the title and sometimes a few floating lyrics and have a completely different melody.
For example the Alabama version of "Boll Weevil", recorded by Jaybird Colemen in 1927 and most famously by Vera Hall for the Alan Lomax compilation Sounds of the South.
The boll weevil is a brown-black beetle devastating the South since the earliest blues years and still reigning supreme. In 1892 he came crawling in from Mexico into Texas, with all of his little friends and relatives. When they'd eaten up Texas they migrated to Louisiana in 1903 and another five years later to Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
In 1915 John Lomax wrote about "The Ballad of the Boll-Weevil" in an article in The Journal of American Folklore. (Vol. 28, No. 107 (Jan. - Mar., 1915), pp. 15/16)
In 1916 John Lomax also wrote about the invasion of the Boll Weevil on page 139/140 in The Book of Texas.
The song is also contained on page 76-79 in Dorothy Scarborough's On The Trail Of The Negro Folk-Songs (1925)
Probably the first recorded version:
(o) Fiddlin' John Carson (1924) (as "Dixie Boll Weevil")
Recorded March 1924 in Atlanta, Georgia
Released May 1924 on Okeh 40095
Lyrics:
The farmer said to the boll weevil, "I believe you're on the square,"
The boll weevil said to the farmer, "My whole dang family's there,
"Come to get your home,
"Gonna get your home."
The boll weevil said to the doctor, "You can cut out your little pills,
"But when I get through with the farmer, he can't pay no doctor bills,
"I'm gonna get his home,
"Gonna get his home."
The boll weevil said to the farmer, "I'll swing right on your gate,
"And when I get through with your cotton, you're going to sell that Cadillac 8.
"Gonna get your home,
"I come to get your home."
Farmer said to the merchant, "I want some meat and meal,"
"Get away from here you son of a gun, you got boll weevils in your field,
"Gonna get your home,
"He come to get your home."
The boll weevil said to the farmer, "You can ride in that Ford machine,
"But when I get through with your cotton, you can't buy gasoline,
"I'm gonna get your home,
"I come to get your home."
The boll weevil said to the farmer, "I certainly wish you well,"
The farmer said to the boll weevil, "I wish you was in Griffin, Georgia."
Listen here: cusb_ok_40095_01_8605_0b.wav
Or here:
(c) Gid Tanner (1925) (as "Boll Weevil Blues")
Recorded January 27, 1925 in New York (take 5 or take 6)
Released February 1925 on Columbia 15016-D
Lyrics See: Boll Weevil Blues-Gid Tanner - Weeniepedia
Listen her:
(c) Carl Sandburg (1926) (as "The Boll Weevil")
Recorded March 4, 1926 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 20135
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Listen here: The Boll Weevil - Carl Sandburg - Sandburg.mp3
In 1928 Carl Sandburg published his version of the song also in The American Songbag.
(c) W.A. Lindsey & Alvin Conder (1929) (as "Boll Weevil")
Recorded February 24, 1928 in Memphis, TN.
Released on Okeh 45346
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Listen here:
Leadbelly recorded "Boll Weevil" on a few occasions, beginning in 1934 in Louisiana
(c) Leadbelly (1934) (as "Boll Weevil")
Recorded October 15, 1934 in Shreveport, Louisiana
Released on the next album
Listen here:
In 1939 Leadbelly recorded his best known version in New York City.
(c) Lead Belly (1939) (as "The Boll Weevil")
Recorded April 1, 1939 in New York City
Released on Mucicraft 226 (as part of the 78 RPM album Negro Sinful Songs)
Listen here: The Boll Weevil - Lead Belly-restored.mp3
Or here:
In 1941 the Library of Congress presented a series of ten radio programs for "explaining and illustrating the folk songs of the American people as they are sung by the people themselves." Narrated by legendary folklorist John Lomax you can listen to excerpts from six Boll weevil songs:
BOLL WEEVIL SONG. Sung by Woody Guthrie at Washington, D.C., 1940. Recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax.
BOLL WEEVIL. Sung and recorded by John A. Lomax at Washington, D.C., 1941.
BOLL WEEVIL. Sung by Phineas (Flatfoot) Rockmore at Lufkin, Texas, 1940. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.
BOLL WEEVIL. Sung by Willie George King at Winnfield, La., 1940. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.
BOLL WEEVIL . Sung by Huddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter at Shreveport, La., 1934. Recorded by John A. and Alan Lomax.
BOLL WEEVIL BLUES. Sung by Vera Hall at Livingston, Ala., 1937. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.
These versions were also released in 1958 on an album The Ballad Hunter, Parts V and VI.
Released in washington DC on the Library of Congress label (# AAFS L51)
One album containing two radio programs on American folk music with musical illustrations. Narrated by John Lomax, 1941.
Part V - Two Sailors: Sea Shanties and Canal Boat Ballads.
Part VI - Boll Weevil: Songs about the Little Bug that Challenged King Cotton.
Includes excerpts of Woody Guthrie performing "Boll Weevil Song," recorded by Alan Lomax and Elizabeth Lomax in Washington, D.C., March 21, 1940 (AFS 3409B2).
Listen here:
(c) Josh White (1956) (as "Boll Weevil")
Listen here:
(c) Alan Lomax (1958) (as "The Boll Weevil")
with accompaniment by British blues pioneer Alexis Korner,
under the pseudonym “Nick Wheatstraw,” and Guy Carawan and production support from an
uncredited Guy Carawan.
Listen here:
(c) Eddie Cochran (1959) (as "Boll Weevil Song")
Recorded June 23, 1959 Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA
Released on Liberty F-55203
Listen here:
(c) Brook Benton (1961) (as "The Boll Weevil Song")
Listen here:
(c) Keith de Groot, Nicky Hopkins, Albert Lee, Jim Sullian, John Paul Jones, Clem Cattini (1968)
(as "Boll Weevil Rock")
Recorded summer 1967 in the Olympic Sound Studios in London, England
Released in 1968 on the next album
Listen here:
(c) Shocking Blue (1969) (as "Boll Weevil")
Listen here:
The White Stripes performed "Boll Weevil" live many times between 2001 and 2007.
Here below is a version recorded live on the Glastonbury Festival 2002
Watch it here:
Different songs with the same Boll Weevil tune:
The familiar melody of Fiddlin' John Carson's "Dixie Boll Weevil" and all the versions after that, was copied by Charlie Poole in "White House Blues" (1926) and "If I Lose" (1927).
In 1930 A.P. Carter copied the tune for "The Cannon-Ball" (as well as using floating lyrics from Charlie Poole's "White House Blues") -->SEE: Cannonball Blues SHS
Red Patterson and the Piedmont Log Rollers copied the melody for an anti-war tune, "Battleship of Maine" (1928), dealing with the Spanish-American War.
Jimmy Yates' Boll Weevils also copied the melody for an anti-war tune, "Bloody War" (1928), which was also covered by Rutherford and Foster in 1929.
In 1937 Leadbelly recorded a song called "Untitled" (or "In That War") (from the 1937 Library of Congress session) about the 1898 Spanish American War. Leadbelly's version has a similar melody (although in a different key).
In 1940 Lulu Belle and Scotty recorded a song called "That Crazy War" also using this familiar tune.
Woody Guthrie adapted the tune for "All You Fascists Bound To Lose", recorded in April 1944 in New York, for Lomax's radio ballad opera The Martins and the Coys, which was broadcast by the BBC.
Woody Guthrie also adapted the tune for another one of his songs: "Lindbergh".
NOT to be confused with "Boll Weevil Blues", recorded by Ernest Hare and written by Cliff Hess in 1921.
-Vernon Dalhart's "Boll Weevil Blues" is also different, written in 1924 by Emabel Palmer and Postal McCurdy.
-In 1923 Ma Rainey wrote and recorded "Bo-Weavil Blues", which is also a different song, covered by Bessie Smith in 1924.
Ma Rainey's "Bo-Weavil Blues" is structured in the AAB blues pattern using 12 bars, a very common structure in blues music. Many Blues songs are structured using the AAB format.
Kokomo Arnold's "Bo Weavil Blues" (1934) is also structured in the AAB blues pattern, and contains floating lyrics from Ma Rainey's version
-Fats Domino's "Bo Weevil" is also another song, covered by ao Teresa Brewer.
-And Charley Patton's "Mississippi Boweavil Blues" is also another song.
And then there's the Alabama version of "Boll Weevil"
-Vera Hall's "Bo Weevil" has floating lyrics, but uses a different melody.
She might have learned it from Blind Jesse Harris, who recorded "Bo Weevil" on July 23, 1937 in Livingston, Alabama.
Vera Hall recorded her version also on July 23, 1937 in Livingston, Alabama
Matrix 1323 A1
Finally released in 2004 on the next album:
Listen here:
(c) Blind Jesse Harris (1937) (as "Boll Weevil")
accompanied by own accordion
Recorded on July 23, 1937 in Livingston, Alabama
Matrix 1327 A1
Finally released in 1997 on the next album:
Listen here:
But some sources say she learned "Boll Weevil" from a friend of her parents: Richard Amerson.
Richard Amerson also made a recording of "Boll Weevil" in Livingston, Alabama (in fact 3 days before Vera Hall and Blind Jesse Harris).
(o) Richard Amerson (1937) (as "Boll Weevil")
Recorded July 20, 1937 in Livingston, Alabama
Matrix 1307 A1
Released on the same album as Vera Hall's version
Listen here:
But it could very well be Richard Amerson, Blind Jesse Harris and Vera Hall, who came all three from Livingston, Alabama, learned the song from Jaybird Coleman, born in Gainesville, Alabama (which is only 16 miles from Livingston)
Jaybird Coleman recorded "Boll Weevil" in 1927, with a melody very similar to the version recorded by Vera Hall, Blind Jesse Harris and Richard Amerson almost 10 years later.
(o) Jaybird Coleman) (1927) (as "Boll Weevil")
Recorded August 5, 1927 in Birmingham, Alabama
Released on Black Patti 8055
Listen here:
Vera Hall's version was subsequently covered by Shirley Collins and Davy Graham in 1965
Vera Hall's version was also covered by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur in 2016.
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