The Boll Weevil Song

Infobox Single
Name = The Boll Weevil Song


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Artist = Brook Benton
Album = The Boll Weevil Song and 11 Other Great Hits
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B-side = "Your Eyes"
Released = 1961
Format = 7" (45 rpm)
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Genre = Novelty song
Length = 2:39
Label = Mercury Records
Writer = Brook Benton, Clyde Otis
Producer = Shelby Singleton
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"The Boll Weevil Song" is the title of a 1961 song recorded by American R&B singer Brook Benton. The song was adapted from a traditional American folk song [Whitburn, Joel (1996). "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)] by Benton and frequent musical collaborator Clyde Otis. The novelty record was produced by Shelby Singleton and appeared on Benton's album, "The Boll Weevil Song and 11 Other Great Hits".

The boll weevil "(Anthonomus grandis)" is 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. Various songs had been written and performed about this insect during the period by different musicians.

Benton's recording was a hit single during the summer of 1961 and became the highest-charting single of his career on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where the singer had eight Top 10 hits between 1959 and 1970. "The Boll Weevil Song" spent three weeks at #2 on the Hot 100 chart. On the R&B chart, where Benton had enjoyed even greater success, the song also peaked at #2.

On the week ending July 17, 1961, "Billboard" magazine debuted a new chart, which was called the "Easy Listening chart" (this would later become known as the Adult Contemporary chart), which was created to list songs that the magazine deemed were not rock and roll records. Since the #1 song on the Hot 100 chart at the time was "Tossin' and Turnin'" by rock and roll singer Bobby Lewis, and Benton's song was not considered rock and roll by the magazine, "The Boll Weevil Song" holds the distinction of being the first #1 song on the Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary chart. [ [http://www.jerryosborne.com/8-9-99.htm "Mr. Music" website] ]

In England, the song reached a peak position of #30 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 40 for eight weeks during the summer of 1961.

The majority of the song's lyrics are spoken by Benton, as in when the farmer inquires, "Say, why'd you pick my farm?", to which the boll weevils reply, "We ain't gonna do ya much harm". The chorus of "we're lookin' for a home" was sung by Benton and the Mike Stewart Singers.

The song is covered live by the White Stripes. It is also covered on an album by the Old Crow Medicine Show.

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