Shoo Fly
Don't Bother Me

The Shoo Fly lyrics are: Chorus — "Shoo fly, don't bother me, / Shoo fly, don't bother me, / Shoo fly, don't bother me, / For I belong to somebody." Verse — "I feel, I feel, I feel, / I feel like a morning star. / I feel, I feel, I feel, / I feel like a morning star." The chorus is far better known than the verse — most students know the chorus from early childhood, making this an ideal song for focusing directly on the rhythmic concepts rather than spending time on learning the melody.

The natural word stress in "shoo fly, don't bother me" falls on syllables that are off the main beats of the measure — the accented words land between beats rather than on them. This creates syncopation: the melody pushes against the steady pulse rather than landing squarely on it. What makes this a particularly effective teaching song is that most students have been singing and loving this syncopated pattern their whole lives without realizing it. When they tap the steady beat while singing and hear the melody pushing off it, the concept of syncopation becomes immediately clear.

Students stand in two lines facing their partner, and the head couple forms the arch. Pairs walk through on the beat during the chorus; the verse gives time for the full class to reorganize. There's a specific management move that prevents the main chaos point in the center. The complete game is demonstrated in the teaching video.

Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me is an American folk song that dates to the Civil War era — it was widely sung by soldiers and civilians in the 1860s. The song became a popular children's song and has remained part of American folk music ever since. Like many folk songs of its era, it traveled through oral tradition and exists in numerous variants. The do pentatonic melody and syncopated rhythm give it a distinctly American musical character.