{title: The Black Fly Song}
{artist: Wade Hemsworth}
{album: Folk Songs of the Canadian North Woods (1955)}
{key: G}
{tempo: 130}
{difficulty: intermediate}
{tags: canadiana,wade-hemsworth,humor,bush-songs}
{video: youtube:f389hIxZAOc}
{credit: 'Blackfly' (NFB animated short, 1991, Oscar-nominated). Song by Wade Hemsworth, sung by Hemsworth with Kate & Anna McGarrigle. (c) National Film Board of Canada.}

{c: A song about getting eaten alive by black flies in northern Ontario while surveying for a hydro dam. The NFB animated short (1991) by Christopher Hinton is essential viewing — funniest 5 minutes in Canadian animation history.}
{c: Lyrics copyright Wade Hemsworth estate. Chord skeleton below. Watch the NFB film for the lyrics and the perfect comic timing.}

{c: ===== STRUCTURE =====}
{c: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → ... (multiple verses, escalating bug misery) → Final chorus}

{c: ===== VERSE PROGRESSION (in G) =====}
[G]________ ________ [C]________ [G]________
[G]________ ________ [D]________ [G]________
[G]________ [C]________ [G]________ [Em]________
[C]________ [G]________ [D]________ [G]________

{c: ===== CHORUS PROGRESSION =====}
{c: "And the black flies, the little black flies / always the black fly, no matter where you go..."}
[G]________ ________ [C]________
[C]________ ________ [G]________
[G]________ [C]________ [Em]________ [D]________
[G]________ [D]________ [G]________

{c: ===== PERFORMANCE NOTES =====}
{c: Tempo: brisk. This is a comedy song; pace = punchline.}
{c: Strum: light boom-chuck — keep it bouncy.}
{c: SING IT DEADPAN. The funnier the misery, the more deadpan the delivery.}
{c: For verses listing different ways the flies eat you — each verse should escalate the absurdity, not the volume.}

{c: ===== KID FRIENDLY =====}
{c: Massive hit with 7-year-olds. The 7yo will make up new verses. Encourage this.}
{c: "Black flies in your hair, black flies in your stew" — the call-and-response of new horrors is half the fun.}

{c: ===== ARRANGEMENT =====}
{c: Two-voice harmony on the chorus is gold — McGarrigle sisters set the template again.}
{c: Mandolin: chop hard on 2 and 4 — keeps the comic rhythm.}
{c: Concertina or whistle: little fills between vocal lines, like the flies themselves buzzing in.}

{c: ===== WHY THIS SONG =====}
{c: It's funny, it's Canadian, it's about being miserable in the bush, and a 7-year-old can sing the chorus by the second time through. Pair it with The Log Driver's Waltz for a Wade Hemsworth + NFB film double feature.}