Singing The Dirty Blues
I’ve been vaguely aware since high school — thanks to a cassette tape played aloud on the school bus — that there were raunchy and explicit songs in the blues era that never got played on the radio. But they weren’t exactly accessible in the pre-internet era.
These days, of course, there’s YouTube:
With YouTube, it became possible to write a nifty little essay like Dirty R&B, with live links:
I can’t remember the first time I heard Wynonie Harris, but I suppose it was when I was big into Lindy Hop, stepping out decked head to toe in vintage clothing during San Francisco’s ’90s swing revival. I do remember the song:
Keep on churnin’ till the butter comes
Keep on churnin’ till the butter comes
Keep on pumpin’ make the butter flow
Wipe off the paddle and churn some moreThe song opens with a jump blues walking bass line from the upright bass–a bouncing horn section dancing in time right alongside it–and then a solo sax snakes down right into the lyrics. Harris’s voice is gritty and gravelly, a real blues shouter’s voice that earned him the nickname of Mr. Blues. He’s not just singing about wanting a fine brown cow – you can tell from the way he sings he’s going out and filling up his pail every night.
Harris recorded “Keep On Churnin’ (Till The Butter Comes)” on January 9, 1952, with the Todd Rhodes Orchestra. As far as double entendres go, it’s a lot less double and a lot more entendre, and the first time I heard it, it knocked my socks off.
See also: The Ins And Outs Of Dirty Records
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Not R&B, but a regional radio station here in the Netherlands played Durwood Douche’s Christmas Blowjob song a few years ago. Quite daring for a state subsidised station but absolutely harmless.
You’ve gotta love these old songs but for me, fifties Jamican Ska has some of the finest such as “Doctor Dick” by Lee Perry and the Souletts about an injection specialist and a demanding patient. If you want them less subtle there’s always “Want me Cock” by Owen & Leon Silvera or “One Eyed Giant” by Baba Brooks and his band, always make me smile.
In the 1920’s, “colored” singers performed dirty blues for white audiences. Taboo titillation for the uptight to snicker.
I would like to see a restaurant menu featuring Dirty Blues food double entendres! “Sugar in my bowl”; “your biscuits are big enough for me”; “The Spinach Song, or ‘I Didn’t Like it the First Time'”;”Squeeze my lemon, till the juice runs down my leg”
Alberta Hunter can be “Wink Wink Nudge Nudge,” but Lucille Bogan sings it like she means it.
I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb,
I got somethin’ between my legs’ll make a dead man come,
Oh daddy, baby won’t you shave ’em dry?
Now, draw it out!
I’m gon’ turn back my mattress, and let you oil my springs,
I want you to grind me daddy, ’til the bell do ring,
From Wikipedia:
Her final recordings with Roland and Josh White include two takes of “Shave ‘Em Dry”, recorded in New York on Tuesday, March 5, 1935. The unexpurgated alternate take is notorious for its explicit sexual references, a unique record of the lyrics sung in after-hours adult clubs.[7] According to Keith Briggs’ liner notes for Document Records Complete Recordings, these were recorded either for the fun of the recording engineers, or for “clandestine distribution as a ‘Party Record'”. Briggs notes that Bogan seems to be unfamiliar with the lyrics, reading them as she sings them, potentially surprised by them herself.