THE USE OF
FOOD AS A SEXUAL METAPHOR IN THE BLUES
The blues as a musical genre is
rife with double entendre, as
is its subsequent incarnation, rhythm
and blues. Cars, machinery,
housework, and all manner of crawling,
slithering, and galloping
creatures are common fodder for sexual
innuendo. By far, however,
the most prevalent of these metaphors
is food and its
preparation. Even such
innocuous-sounding songs as “I Like Bread
and Butter” (Bryant) and “Shortnin’
Bread” (Johnson, 261) had
their roots in sexual themes. The
meanings implied in most food—
related metaphors are far too obvious
to necessitate elucidation.
There are, however, related areas
which invite scrutiny. One area
of interest with any linguistic symbol
relates to the reasons
behind its usage. How these metaphors
developed over time, and
the classifications into which they
tend to fall are also
subjects worthy of note.
All forms of popular music,
particularly folk music, have some
degree of sexual double entendre, but
it appears to be far more
prevalant in the blues and R&B.
One explanation can be found in
the very nature of slavery.
African-Americans were forced to
resort to codes and symbolic language
in order to avoid
recriminations from plantation owners
(Dundes, 258), particularly
in relationship to sexual matters. The
European-American’s taboos
and fears relating to African-American
male sexuality made it
extremely dangerous to discuss sex in
the their presence
(Johnson, 259). It is no surprise
then, that many of the early
singers of risque songs were women.
They were considered
provocative, whereas an African-American
man singing the same
lyrics would be far too threatening to
the European-Americans
(Cook, 188 and Walton, 35).
Many writers attribute the penchant
for risque lyrics to the
places where blues first was
popularized - juke joints,
roadhouses and brothels. In Sporting
House, a history of New
Orleans jazz, Stephen Longstreet
contends that the blues was
originally known as “whorehouse music
(Longstreet, 218)”.
There is no doubt that there was a
demand for risque songs
which prompted the musicians to
satisfy it with an ample
supply. There is some controversy as
to what extent the record
companies were aware of or encouraged
bawdy lyrics. It is
hypothesized that censorship by the
record producers was an
important element in creating
intentional ambiguity:
In order to meet the demands of the market the record
companies appear to have
evolved a double standard in
which they accepted, and
may have invited, sexually
suggestive material but
suppressed direct speech which
might be interpreted as
obscene. . .Curtailing the range
of expression. . .
inevitably. . .provoked the use of double-
entendre phrases.
(Oliver,
Screening the Blues, 250)
From a historical perspective, the
blues has long been linked
with sexuality ( and sinning in
general). Within the African-
American church-going community of the
South, blues has
traditionally been viewed as the
devil’s music, the antithesis of
gospel. Emma Williams, the mother of
singer Mary Johnson,
typifies this attitude:
When she was singin’ them blues I told her - she was
pavin’ her way to hell.
(Oliver,
Screening the Blues, 46)
In an interview for Guitar Player
magazine, Johnny Shines is
quoted as saying:
When I was a kid, a person heard you singing the
blues and recognized your voice,
you couldn’t go
down their house, around
their daughters.
(Obrecht, 16)
With the large migration from the
delta to the cities in the
early years of the twentieth century
(Harrison, 64) caine the
increased use of bawdy lyrics. The
relative freedom of city life
caused “. . .a higher proportion of
stanzas concerned with humor
and sex (Titon, 55).”
In a system he develops in the book
Shining Trumpets, Rudy
Blesh classifies this early city music
as the “sophisticated
blues.” His opinion of the prevelance
of bawdy lyrics is
decidedly negative:
we find stilted and coy phrasing in an
affectedly harsh voice,
pruriently suggestive
phrases by which the most
un-Victorian listener would
not be amused. (Blesh, 142)
In contrast, Paul Garon feels that these
“pruriently
suggestive phrases”, as Blesh calls
them, were being used to
smash the former oppressive morality
by openly confronting
sexuality (Garon, 71). Others feel it
was simply cathartic.
According to Edith Wilson, “ Singing
lewd or raunchy blues
provided a form of release of pent—up
feelings which were
repressed by social norms that
prohibited open discussion of sex
(quoted in Harrison, 109).”
The advent of rhythm and blues in
the late forties and early
fifties introduced the sexual double
entendre to the general
public. The popularity of humorous
puns in R&B made it a fertile
ground for the blossoming of sexual
metaphor. These songs had
been played for years in private
parlors and at house rent
parties, but wide distribution to the
general population
stimulated controversy:
The liveliness and raw earthiness
of R&B had been
tolerated until the music was
discovered by white
teenagers and mom and dad
sudden~y noticed that the
words were a bit explicit..,
a fierce campaign to
stamp out “suggestive”
records swept the country in
1954. R&B records were
the only target of the
crusade. (Grendyson)
In spite of the aforementioned
religious, cultural and social
opposition, sexual double entendre is
still common, as is
evidenced by Love Lee’s 1994
recording, “ Good Candy,” and the
1994 release of The Uptown Horns
Review with Albert Collins, “
Sugar Melts When It’s Wet.”
Sugar and sweets are one of the
more prevalent sexual
metaphors in the blues. From the
following standard “sugar”
references to more complex bakery and
dessert double entendres,
the true meanings are indesputable:
You so
sweet you whet my appetite (twice)
You
make me hungry I just want to get a bite
You
resist me baby but I’ll get you yet
There’s
one thing I know: sugar melts when it’s wet
Oh,
baby, you make my sweet tooth ache
(The Uptown Horns Review with Albert Collins
“Sugar Melts When it’s Wet”)
Sugar in
the gourd, cain’t get it out
Way to
get sugar - roll it all about
(Peg Leg Howell, “Turkey Buzzard Blues”
Oliver, Songsters and Saints, 28)
She
loves me every morning and every evening
She got sugar-coated love
(Lazy Lester, “Sugar-coated Love”)
I need
a little sugar in my bowl
I need
a little hot dog between my rolls
.Move
your fingers, drop something in my bowl
(Bessie Smith, “I Need a Little Sugar in my
Bowl”)
Tell me,
mama, where’d you get your sugar from?
(Blind Boy Fuller, “My Brownskin
Sugar Plum”)
Honey is relevant in the context
of sweetness:
If you don’t like
that honey
I ain’t gonna
buy yo’ dough
(Mississippi Fred McDowell, “Good
Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl”)
Sweet
honey, sweet honey hole (twice)
Said it
even take honey
Satisfy my
soul
I want my honey every morning
Late at
night
But if I
don’t get my honey
Don’t
believe I’m treated just right
(Blind Boy Fuller, “Sweet Honey Hole”)
Honey is not an exclusively female
reference:
He
treats me so mean
Just comes
to me sometimes (twice)
But the way
he spreads his honey
He will
make me lose my mind
Just
because I’m down
He wants to
drive me away (twice)
‘Cause he
knows he’s a good honey dripper
And I need
him every day
(Edith Johnson, “Honey Dripper
Blues”
Oliver, Screening the Blues, 218)
Honey is frequently used in tandem
with the metaphor of the
bee or beehive:
You’ve
been stealin’ my honey,
Your
fingerprints is all over my hive (twice)
My honey
may be sweet to you buddy,
But you
know you ain’t treatin’ me right
You sneak
off in a corner,
Steal my
honey right from my home (twice)
And when I
get back in the mornin’
There ain’t
no honey left in the comb
(Peter Clayton, “Honey Stealin’ Blues,
Oliver, Screening the
Blues, 218)
I hear alot
of buzzing
Sound like
my little honeybee (twice)
She been
all around the world makin’ honey
But now she
is coming back home to me
(Muddy Waters, “Honey Bee”)
Similarly, candy is frequently
employed:
Mama, I’ve
got some stick candy, I’ve got jelly beans
I’ve got the best stick of candy
baby
that you’ve
ever seen
Mama if you
want this big stick of candy
You can
have it all by yourself
I’ll save
it for you baby
Won’t give it to nobody else
(Love Lee, “Good Candy”)
He’s
sweeter than chocolate candy,
He’ 5
confect ionary
(Billie Holiday,
“Sugar”)
Mississippi John Hurt’s “Candy Man”
may be referring to Lii
Johnson, a popular early singer known
for her bawdy lyrics:
All
heard what sister Johnson said
She always takes a candy stick to bed
(Mississippi John Hurt, “Candy Man”)
Hey,
Mr. Bullfrog, I’m gonna tell you all
I
can’t stand your jelly-rolling here
You
can go out in the backyard,
I’ll
make you a pallet there
(Jenny
Pope, “Bullfrog Blues” Garon, 147)
Who’s gonna do your sweet jelly-rollin’
Sweet jelly rollin’ when I’m gone?
Who’s gonna do your old-fashioned lovin’
Old-fashioned lovin’ from now on?
(Whistling Rufus, “Who’s Gonna Do Your
Sweet Jelly
Rollin’? Oliver, Screening
the
Blues, 195)
Other baked goods and sweets
show up randomly:
I
saw another man eatin’ of my chocolate cake
(Emery
Glen, “Backdoor Blues” White, 96)
Cherry, cherry pie, oh so good...
Give
me, give me some cherry pie
(Marvin and Johnny,
“Cherry Pie”)
I’m
your ice cream man
Stop
me when I’m passing by
Now,
I’ll cool you off little girl
Guarantee
I’ll satisfy
I’ve
got cream sandwiches, dixie cups,
Popsicles, and push-ups
(John
Brim, “Ice Cream Man”)
I
like my baby’s puddin’
I
like it best of all (twice)
Gonna watch my baby both night and day
So
she won’t give my puddin’ away
Her
puddin’ is all my baby owns
So there ain’t no meat
for Henry Jones
(Wynonie Harris, “I Like My Baby’s Pudding”)
As with all oral traditions,
there are certain phrases and
even entire songs that are used
so often they are difficult to
trace back to any original
source. Many songs with different
titles and/or different
musicians are actually the same song, as
are “Custard Pie Blues” by Sonny
Terry, “Tater Pie” by Sonny
Terry, “I Want Some of Your Pie”
by Blind Boy Fuller and Sonny
Terry, and You Got to Give Me
Some of it” by Buddy Moss. By sheer
quantity, Sonny Terry seems to
be the originator. But much of the
blues is public domain, with
authorship often “traditional.” As
Lawrence W. Levine explains in
Black Culture and Consciousness:
Black singers felt
absolutely free to take blues sung by
others-friends,
professional. performers, singers on
records—and alter them
in any way they liked... (blues)
remained communal
property... no single person “owned”
a blues song. (Levine, 229)
So it is not unusual to find:
I’m gonna
tell you somethin’ baby
Ain’t gonna
tell you no lie
I want some
of your tater pie
(Sonny Terry, “Tater
Pie”)
Baby, I’m
not jokin’
Ain’t gonna
tell you no lie
I want a
piece of your custard pie
(Blind Boy Fuller, “1 Want Some of Your Pie”)
I’m gonna
tell you true
Ain’t gonna
tell you no lie
I’m crazy
about your custard pie
(Buddy Moss, “You Got to Give Me Some of it”)
Along the lines of baking, all types of breads show up in
blues lyrics, as in this Hi Henry
Brown tale about a wayward
preacher:
If you want
to hear a preacher curse,
Bake bread,
sweet mama and save him the crust
Oooh, if
you want to hear a preacher curse,
Says,
bake bread sweet mama and save him the
crust
(Hi Henry Brown, “Preacher Blues”
Oliver, Screening the Blues, 48)
Or in Smokey Babe’s “Biscuit Bakin’
Woman”:
Well,
you bake those biscuit, bake ‘em nice and brown
Love that
woman, she can really go to town
Well, now,
I can tell by the way she roll her dough
She can
bake those biscuits once mo’
(Smokey Babe, “Biscuit Bakin’ Woman”
Oster, 357)
J.L. Dillard, in the Lexicon of
Black English states:
As a symbol, the biscuit is
almost equally important. At
least in the days immediately
after slavery, it was more
likely to be on the table of
the Black than pastry, and
it is a good metaphorical
reference to sex of a fairly
steady and good quality. If
it is not up to that caliber
it is cornbread. (Dillard,
26)
One example that supports Dillard’s
interpretation can be
found in the John Lee Hooker song,
“Catfish”:
Got somethin’
to tell you
Oh, Lord, baby
Baby, you know
that ain’t right
You cook
cornbread for your husband
Biscuits for
your man
Biscuits for
your man
(John Lee Hooker, “Catfish”)
After “jelly roll”, the second most
common sexual reference is
meat, particularly in regards to
pigmeat, butchers, and meat
cutting. One concept is that of having
meat on your bones, reflecting
the African-American cultural
perspective which has more of an
appreciation for voluptuous figures
than the traditional European-
American values do:
It ain’t the
meat it’s the motion
Makes your
daddy want to rock
It ain’t the
meat it’s the motion
It’s the
movement that gives it the sock
You find some
girls who are big and fat
Some fellahs
don’t like to see ‘em like that
But I like to see ‘em big and tall
The bigger
they come the harder they fall
(“It Ain’t the Meat” Risque rhythm)
“Big Fat Mama With Meat Shakin’ off
Her Bones” is one of the
“traditional” songs recorded in various
styles by Roosevelt
Halts, Houston Stackhouse, Arzo
Youngblood (Evans, 237), Ida Cox
(Melnich, 271), Leadbelly, Mississippi
Fred McDowell, and Tommy
Johnson, whose version is excerpted here:
Cryin’ big fat mama
Meat shakin’
off her bones
Every time the
meat shake
It’s a skinny woman lose a home
(“Big Fat Mama” Evans, 237)
Men, too, take pride in fat meat:
Fat meat
Is really very
fine
‘Cause you
don’t see nobody
Runnin’ away
from mine
Fat meat is
soft
Fat meat is nice
If you try it
once
You bound to
try it twice
Fat meat
Is all that
you will crave
You’ll follow
me around baby,
Beggin’ me
just like a slave
(Big Jim Wynn, “Fat Meat”)
Juba
to Jive defines pigmeat as, “. . .female whore; young
girl.” (Clarence, 349). Bo Carter’s song,
“Pigmeat is What I
Crave” typifies such usage. Likewise, Blind
Lemon Jefferson
sings:
I’m crazy ‘bout my
light bread
And my
pigmeat on the side
(Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Bakershop
Blues” Charters, 183)
Ardella Bragg chides:
Look heah,
papa, you don’t treat pigmeat the way you
should
Ooh, don’t
treat pigmeat the way you should
If you don’t
believe it’s pigmeat ask in the neighborhood
I ain’t so
good-lookin’, I ain’t got no great long hair
Ooh, I ain’t
got no great long hair
But I don’t have to worry, I know it’s pigmeat anywhere
(Ardella Bragg, “Pigmeat Blues” Oliver,
Blues Fell This Morning, 126)
Pigmeat is another term that can be
used for either gender. In
Leadbelly’s “Pigmeat Papa”, which is
lyrically similar to Ardella
Bragg’s “Pigmeat Blues”, he calls
himself “pure pigmeat.” Other
classic examples of the masculine
usage are:
His fine
feathers are rolled so sweet
How I love
his young pigmeat
(Bessie Smith, “Kitchen Man” Oliver, 178)
Girls they
call me Big Bad Pete
But they’s
crazy ‘bout this little pigmeat so
Freeze to me,
mama, before I go home
(Barbeque Bob, “Freeze to Me, Mama” Oliver,
Blues off the Record, 78)
In regards to women, references to
ham hocks, pork chops, and
hams abound:
When it comes
to good lovin’
Don’t forget to buy me some pork chops
aaahaaah
every day of my life
I got to have
me some...
Every day I
need some of them
Sweet-smellin’ pork chops
(The Dorsets, “Pork Chops”)
She got a
fine T-bone
Oh, what a
lovely roast
Her hams are
delicious
And the chops
I love the most
As I sat down to dinner
Just the
other day
The butcher
came in and caught his wife
Givin’ his
chops away
Well, he
swung with his cleaver,
He grabbed
a butcher knife
Got outta
that shop in one big hop
And ran for
my life
When I got
up from the table
Through the
wall I made a door
Grabbed my
hat and I ain’t been back
To get
those chops no more
(Mr. Sad Head “Butcher Boy”)
The term, “hambone” ( not to be
confused with its usage in a
popular “patting Juba” song) is used
in an exclusively male
context:
I’m going to Tishamingo
To have my
hambone boiled
These
Atlanta women
Done let my
hambone spoil
(Peg Leg Howell, “Tishamingo Blues” Dillard, 26)
Ed Bell has a similar complaint, although
different locales:
I got to go
to Cincinnatti
Just to
have my hambone boiled
Womens in
Alabama
Gonna let
my hambone spoil
(Ed Bell, “Hambone
Blues” Sackheim, 294)
The vivid image of the man as a
butcher cutting the
woman’s meat has been seen by some as
being sadistic
objectification (Foib, 151). The more
practical interpretation is
that meat was an uncommon delicacy, as
was pastry. Regardless of
its basis, the metaphor is common:
Mama, I got a
hot dog and it ain’t cold
It’s just
right to fit your roll
. .
.I don’t mean a weenie!
(Roosevelt Sykes, “Dirty Mother
for You’1
Oliver, Screening the Blues, 234)
Now I ain’t
no butcher
No
butcher’s son
I can do
your cutting
Till the
butcher man comes
(Ba Carter, “All Around Men,” Sackheim, 170)
Hey,
everybody! did the news get around
About a guy
named Butcher Pete
01’ Pete just flew into this town
And he’s
choppin’ up all the women’s meat
He’s
hackin’ and whackin’ and smackin’ (3 times)
He whacks,
smacks, choppin’ that meat
Sam’s got the best hot dog here in town
I
like the way he serves it
He
goes round and round
Baby, with his hot dog
(Lii
Johnson, “Sam-the hot Dog Man”)
Chicken and fish also
appear in songs, although these
references are not as
numerous and far more obscure. The word
“chick” is assumed to come
from “chicken dinner,” a euphemism for
a woman:
Little girl, little girl, you sure can cook
Little girl, little girl, you got me
hooked
Cook that chicken - save me the head
(Mighty Joe Young, “Chicken Heads)
Minstralry used songs with
titles such as, “Chicken, You Can’t
Roost Too High for Me” to
perpetuate the racist stereotype of
African-Americans as chicken
thieves (Russell, 16). Subsequently,
blues singers adapted these
same songs, and with a slight change
of vocal tone and attitude
added a provocative ambiguity (Oliver,
Sinners and Saints, 100).
Audiences were left to make their own
inferences about the nature
of the much sought-after chickens:
Oh
chicken, oh chicken, you can fry them nice and brown
Oh
chicken, oh chicken, you can waltz the gravy around
Oh
chicken, oh chicken, I don’t mean no fault in that
Fine chickens grow in this town
And the wings can’t get too fat
Oh, when I come to this neighborhood
Chickens know just what I mean
(Stovepipe no. 1, “ A Chicken Can Waltz
The
Gravy Around” Oliver, Sinners and
Saints, 100)
References to fishing as
an allusion to catching a mate are
quite common:
If
you go fishin’
I’m a-goin’ a-fishin’ too
You bet yo’ life
Yo’ sweet little wife
Can catch as many fish as you
(trad. Levine, 280)
If
you don’t like my ocean
Don’t fish in my sea
(trad. Cook, 188)
The use of fish as food in any
context less innocent than a
fish fry is extremely uncommon in the
blues and R&B. Seafood is
traditionally seen as symbolic of
cunnilingus, not a popular
subject in the blues. One rare
exception is Peetie Wheatstraw’s
“I Want Some Seafood:”
I want
some fish, ooh, well, well,
And you
know just what I mean
I want
fish, fish, mama
I wants it
all the time
The peoples
call it seafood, ooh
Well, well,
up and down the line
(Peetie Wheatstraw, “I Want Some
Seafood” Garon, 70)
One example of shellfish is found
in “Kitchen Man”:
Oh how that
boy does open clams
(Bessie Smith, Oliver,
Screening the
Blues, 178)
Fruits and vegetables are not ignored
the blues by any means:
Don’t your
plums look mellow
Hangin’ up
on your tree (twice)
Don’t your
house seem lonesome
When your
baby pack up and leave
Lord, I
ain’t got nobody
Talk baby
talk to me (twice)
Lord, your
peaches look so mellow dear
Climb up in
your peach tree
(Joe Williams, “Don’t Your Plums Look Mellow
Hanging on Your Tree”)
Wish I Was
an Apple
Hangin’ from a tree
Baby, pluck
me off
Take a bite
of me
(trad. Longstreet, 204)
And I’m
telling you baby
I sure
ain’t gonna deny
Let me put my banana in your fruit
basket
And I’ll be
satisfied
(Bo Carter, “Banana in Your Fruit Basket”)
I likes
your little peaches
They so
mellow and fine
I’m so
crazy about your orchard
Mama keeps
me beggin’ all the time
(Sonny Boy Williamson, “Peach Tree”)
Most references to peaches and
plums are probably based on
the fruit’s resemblance to women’s
breasts. With many songs there
is no ambiguity whatsoever:
Fruit’s in
your basket
the lemon’s
on the shelf
Let me
squeeze ‘em baby
Can’t
squeeze them yourself
I’m a lemon
squeezin’ daddy
And I just
got back in town (twice)
Way out in
California
Where they grow so big and round
(The Sultans, “Lemon Squeezing Daddy”)
Please let
me squeeze your lemons
While I’m
in your lonesome town
Now, let me
squeeze your lemons, baby
Until my
love come down
(Charlie Picket, “Let Me Squeeze Your
Lemons” Dillard, 33)
Again we find traditional phrases,
which Paul Oliver calls
“floating verses.” (Oliver, Screening
the Blues, 18). Either
drawn from the common pool, or simply
borrowed from an original
source (possibly Sonny Boy
Williamson’s “Until My Love Comes
Down”), both of the previous songs can
be found verbatim in Otis
Webster’s “Fruit’s on Your Tree”
(Oliver, Songsters and Saints
358).
From the feminine perspective,
There is flexibility within the
terms for songs such as:
I’ll
squeeze your lemon
Until the
juice runs down your leg
(Bessie Smith, Dillard, 33)
The blues by its nature has certain
formulas into which any
number of words can be inserted. The
lyric quoted above, “ If you
don’t like my ocean. . .“ is
characteristic of these formulas, with
other versions related to produce. The
most common word used
being peaches:
Well, if you don’t like my peaches
Don’t shake
my tree
Just stay
out of my orchard
And let my
peaches be
(William Harris, “Hot Time Blues” Oliver,
Songsters and Saints, 72)
If you
don’t like my peaches
Don’t shake
my tree
Don’t like
my fruits
Let my
orchards be
(Frank Stokes, “Mr. Crump Don’t Like It”
Oliver, Songsters and Saints, 72)
You’re
playing in my orchard
Now don’t
you see
If you
don’t like my peaches
Stop
shakin’ my tree
(Longstreet, 114)
But peaches are not the only
subject:
If you
don’t like my sweet potato
What made
you dig so deep (twice)
Dig my
potato field
Three, four
times a week
(Lil Johnson, “You’ll never Miss Your
Jelly” Sackheim, 44)
Potatoes were not an uncommon
metaphor:
Ain’t no
more potatoes
Frost done
killed the vine
Ain’t no
more good times
With that
girl of mine
(King David’s Jug Band, “Sweet Potato
Blues” Garon, 70)
I’d love to
dig your potatoes
I’d like to
get tangled in your yellow yams
(F~arnmie Nixon, McKee, 156)
I’m
travelin’ baby
You know
I’m a stranger in your land
You know
I’m a tater diggin’ man
Woman, I
want to tangle up in your potato vine
I know your
tater’s need diggin’
(Yank Rachell, “Let Me Tangle in Your
Vine”)
Sonny Terry uses this imagery
effectively to express the
territorial violation felt when his
woman is unfaithful:
When I went
downtown this mornin’
Left my
gate unlatched
When I came
back home
That fool
was in my ‘tater patch
You know he’s diggin’ my potatoes
Trampin’ on
my vine
(Sonny Terry, “Diggin’ my Potatoes”)
According to Guy B. Johnson, cabbage is
another common term
for “female organs” (Johnson, 261). There is
ample proof in the
lyrics of popular musicians:
I
got a sweet woman
She
lives right in back of the jail
She’s got a sign in her window
Good cabbages for sale
(Jelly Roll Morton, “Low Down Blues”
Dillard, 25)
He
boiled my first cabbage
And
he made it awful hot
When he put in the bacon
It
overflowed the pot
(Bessie Smith, “Empty bed Blues”)
Snack foods, too, have a role in blues
imagery:
Call me the popcorn man
Sell it just as cheap as I can (twice)
I
don’t need your credit
Only sell it for ten cents a can
Well I popped it every night
To
keep my popcorn right
They say, here come your man
Here come your popcorn man
(Otis
Spann, “Popcorn Man”)
Sellin’ nuts, hot nuts
Anybody here want to buy my nuts?
Sellin’ nuts, hot nuts
I’ve got nuts for sale
Sellin’ one for five, two for ten
If you buy them once, you’ll buy ‘em again
Sellin’ nuts, hot nuts
Buy ‘em from the peanut man
(Lil
Johnson, “Hot Nuts”)
Otis Spann and Lil Johnson
appear to be mimicking street
cries, used to call attention
to goods for sale. The street cry
is rich in tradition,
reaching back to the New Orleans market
shouters (Epstein, Dena 181).
The similarity cannot be ignored:
So
come on down and gather around
I’ve got the best fish that’s in
this town
(fish
peddler quoted in Levine, 198)
Ah’m a natural born cook
And
dat ain’t no lie
Ah can fry po’k chops
And have a lowdown pie
(street chef,
quoted in Roach, 23)
Unfortunately, the same source
cannot be used to explain songs
such as “Stew Meat Blues”:
A man say I
had something look like new
He wanted
me to credit him for some of my stew
Say he’s
goin’ up the river, try to sell his sack
He would
pay me for my stuff when the boat get back
I’ve got
good stew and it’s got to be sold
The price
ain’t high I want to get you told
Go on up
the river and sell your sack
There’ll be
stew meat here baby, when the boat get back
(Bessie Jackson, “Stew Meat Blues”
Sackheim, 46)
Viewing prostitution as a result of
economic hardships and
institutionalized racism, many references
to selling are
considered to be literal:
One of the most characteristic degradations of the lower
class black woman is her
frequent necessity to resort to
prostitution, either as a
means of economic sustenance
or as a method of fulfilling
the expectations (and
exploitations) of her male
partner or pimp.
(Garon, 108)
Songs such as “Matchbox Blues”
illustrate this point with a
pimp complaining about an unsuccessful
prostitute:
And a
peg-leg woman can’t hardly get her dough
I say a
peg-leg woman just can’t hardly get her dough
I left one
in Lakeport last night I been
And I’m
servin’ jelly-roll
(Titon, 39)
In “Kitchen Mechanic” Clara Smith
defends the prostitute:
Women talks
about me, and lies on me,
And calls
me outta my name
All their
men come to see me just the same
I’m just a
working girl, po’ working gal,
Kitchen
mechanic is what they say (twice)
But I’ll
have a honest dollar on that rainy day
(Clara Smith, “Kitchen Mechanic” Harrison, 109)
References to price are not always
overt prostitution, but
were related to “upkeep”. It was
simply characteristic of the era
that men were expected to take care of
women - buying them gifts,
and looking after them in the manner
to which they had become
accustomed (Dorham). In Wild Child
Butter’s “Gravy Child” he is
apparantly unable to meet the market
price:
I got to
lick gravy baby
‘Cause your
meat too high to buy (twice)
Say, I
never had a piece of your meat, darlin’
And I think
you know the reason why
The tax is
high and so is rent
You got my
tax, baby
Higher than
the president
(Wild Child Butler, “Gravy Child”)
When drinking figures into the
blues it is usually in
reference to alcohol in a literal
sense. A few exceptions are
milk, tea and coffee. Bo Carter’s “All
Around Man” uses the milk
metaphor to its maximum potential:
Now I ain’t
no milkman, no milkman’s son,
I can
pull your titties till the milkman comes
(30 Carter, “All Around Man” Sackheim, 170)
Just as honey is intrinsically linked
to the bee, milk is often
used in conjunction with bovine
symbolism:
Now
my hair is nappy
And I don’t
wear no clothes of silk (twice)
But the cow
that’s black and ugly
Has often
got the sweetest milk
(Sara Martin, “Mean Tight Mama” Oliver,
Screening the Blues, 179)
I’ll milk
you cow ‘til my pail is full
Watch out
hefer! Here comes your bull
(Wynonie Harris, “Keep on Churnin’”)
Well, if you
see my milk cow
Tell her to
hurry home
I ain’t had
no milk
Since that
cow been gone
(Son House, “My Black Mama, part 1”)
This last quote is another of the
“floating lyrics” mentioned
by Paul Oliver. Similar songs are
“Milk Cow” (Lomax, 445), “Milk
Cow Blues Boogie” (Cook, 176) and
“MiLk Cow Blues” (trad.)
Lightning Hopkins has his own
preferences:
You know, I
could ask her for a glass of sweet milk
And I swear
she will give me cream
You know,
everybody’s appetite ain’t alike
In the
morning I drinks sweet milk
And in the evening I don’t drink
none.
(Lightning Hopkins “Hear My Black Dog
Bark”)
Often references to non—alcoholic
drinks and women have a
double metaphor of poisoning functioning to
express mistreatment
or being short-changed:
Well, asked
her for water, but she brought me gasoline
Just the
troublest woman that I ever seen
(Howling Wolf, “I
Asked for Water (She
Gave Me Gasoline)”)
You used to
put iodine in my coffee
Rat poison
in my bed
(Muddy Waters “Iodine in My
Coffee”)
The balance of songs about coffee
and tea, however, are purely
sexual:
I like my
coffee sweet early in the morning
I’m crazy
‘bout my tea at night
(trad.)
Mama got
mad at papa
‘Cause he
didn’t bring no coffee home
She said,
ol’ man, don’t you know
Don’t you
know you doin’ me wrong
You know,
mama, she was mad
But how
sweet it seemed
She drank
black coffee
Without a
drop of cream
You know
she was crazy about that coffee house
That’s the
reason him and mama
They began
to get along
‘Cause she
know what this coffee mess all about
(Lightning Hopkins “Coffee House Blues”)
Wild about
coffee but I’m crazy ‘bout China tea (twice)
But this
sugar daddy is sweet enough for me
(Nellie Florence, “Jacksonville Blues”
Titon, 73)
Bessie Smith combines coffee and
the grinder, a typical use of
food preparation as metaphor:
Got
me a coffee grinder
Got the
best one I could find
So he could
grind my coffee
‘Cause he
got a brand new grind
(Bessie Smith, “Empty Bed Blues”)
All manner of cooking implements
and methods of preparation
are popular among singers:
They call me oven, say that
I’m red hot
They say
I’ve got somethin’ the other gals ain’t got
I can strut
my pudding, spread my grease with ease
‘Cause I
know my onions, that’s why I always
please
(Nellie Florence, “Jacksonville Blues”
Titon, 105)
I got a
range in my kitchen
Sure bakes
nice and brown
All I need
is some good daddy
To turn my
damper down
My stove is
automatic
You don’t
have to burn wood or coal
I just drag
your match, baby
Stick it
right in the hole
(Lii Johnson, “My Stove’s In Good Condition”)
I got a
brand new skillet and a brand new lid
All I need
is a woman that’ll burn my bread
Now I got
the dasher My baby got the churn
We gonna
churn churn churn ‘til the butter comes
(Bo
Carter “Banana in Your Fruit Basket)
Bo Carter’s song segues into what I
will refer to as
a “process” song, where it is the action which
is sexually
suggestive, rather than the implement
itself.
Keep on
churnin’ till the butter comes (twice)
Keep on
pumpin’, make the butter flow
Wipe off
the paddle and churn some mo’
(Wynonie Harris, “Keep On Churnin’”)
My baby
owns an ice cream freezer
She lets me
put my milk in her can (twice)
You know
her freezer ain’t to be turned
By no other
man
She turns
her freezer so slow an easy
She say,
daddy, can you just hold back and stick around
I said I
believe you spoke a little too late mama,
I got
to let that flavor run down
(Roosevelt Sykes, “Ice Cream Freezer”)
I woke up
this mornin’ with my pork-grinder in my hand
If you
can’t send me no woman, send me a sissy man
(Kokomo Arnold, “Sissy Man Blues” Oliver,
Screening the Blues, 187)
Kokomo Arnold’s song, and many of
the preceding songs may seem
raw and offensive, but we must
remember, “ The desires of the
blues singers are the desires of us
all-those who find the blues
vulgar or repulsive find that same
desire in themselves create
creates feelings of disgust or
revulsion” (Garon, 7). Blues
singers may seem preoccupied with
sexuality, but all of humanity
is preoccupied with sexuality (Garon,
66). The double entendres
with which musicians have expressed
this preoccupation has a rich
and complex history. The codes which were necessitated by
oppression, societal mores and
censorship have become their own
form of poetry. Of all these poetic
metaphors, food is the most
common. People sing about their experiences
and needs. In the
impoverished African-American
communities of the South, food was
not always available, and so it was as
much of an obsession as is
sex for many people who do without it.
Food was a luxury, so the
best thing you could compare something to
was pastry or fancy
meats. Only later, as economic
opportunities improved did songs
comparing sex to a shiny new car
appear (Thompson).
REFERENCES
Songs
Brim, John. “Ice Cream Man.” Whose
Muddy Shoes. Chess, CH1537,
1953.
Brown, Roy and his Mighty, Mighty
Men. “Butcher Pete.” Risque
Rhythm. Rhino, R270570, 1991.
Butler, Wild Child. “Gravy Child.”
Keep On Doin’ What You’re
Doin’. Mercury, SR61293.
Carter, Bo. “Banana in Your Fruit
Basket.” Banana in Your
Fruit Basket. Yazoo, 1064,
1991.
Carter, Bo. “Pigmeat is What I
Crave.” Banana in Your Fruit
Basket. Yazoo, 1064, 1991.
Crudup, Arthur. “That’s All Right.”
Delmark 40th Anniversary
Blues. Deirnark, DX-2, 1993.
Dorsets, The. “Pork Chops.” Talkin’
Trash. Greasy Records,
R&B5463A.
Edwards, Bernice. “Butcher Shop
Blues.” Raunchy Business: Hot
Nuts and Lollypops. Columbia,
46783 AAD, 1991.
Frost, Frank. “Jelly Roll King.” Hey
Boss Man. Charlie
Records, CRN2O11.
Fuller, Blind Boy. “My Brownskin
Sugar Plum.” East Coast
Piedmont Style.
Columbia/Legacy, CK46777.
Fuller, Blind Boy. “Sweet Honey Hole.”
East Coast Piedmont
Style. Columbia/Legacy,
CK46777.
Harris, Wynonie. “I Like My Baby’s
Pudding.” Bloodshot Eyes:
The Best of Wynonie Harris.
Rhino, R271544, 1994.
Harris, Wynonie. “Keep On Churnin’.”
Bloodshot Eyes: The Best
of Wynonie Harris. Rhino,
R271544, 1994.
Holiday, Billie. “Sugar.” The Billie
Holiday Story,
Vol. III. Columbia, KG32127,
1973.
Hooker, John Lee. “Catfish.” The
Rare Recordings. Collectible
Records, COL-5l51.
Hopkins, Lightning. “Coffee House
Blues.” Coffee House
Blues. Vee-Jay Records,
VJLP-1138.
Hopkins, Lightning. “Hear My Black
Dog Bark.” Country
Blues. Tradition Records,
TLB1O35, ~959.
House, Son. “My Black Mama Pt. 1.”
Son House - Blind Lemon
Jefferson. Biograph Records,
BI~P—l2O4Q, 1972.
Hunter and Jenkins. “Lollypop.”
Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts and
Lollypops. Columbia, 46783 AAD,
1991.
Hunter and Jenkins. “Meat Cuttin’
Blues.” Raunchy Business:
Hot Nuts and Lollypops. Coiumbj..a, 46783 AAD, 1991.
Hunter, Alberta. “My Handy Man
Ain’t Handy No More.” Amtrak
Blues. Columbia, PC 36430, 1980.
Hurt, Mississippi John. “Candy
Man.” The Blues Masters
Sampler. R27l40l, 1983.
Johnson, Lii. “Get ‘Em From the
Peanut Man (Hot Nuts).”
Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts and
Lollypops. Columbia, 46783
AAD, 1991.
Johnson, Lii. “My Stove’s in Good
Condition.” Raunchy
Business: Hot Nuts and Lollypops.
Columbia, 46783 AAD,
1991.
Johnson, Lii. “Sam the Hot Dog Man.”
Raunchy Business: Hot
Nuts and Lollypops. Columbia,
46783 AAD, 1991.
Leadbelly. “Big Fat Woman.” Noted
Rider. Time Wind, MF 950013.
Leadbelly. “Pigmeat Papa.” The Story
of the Blues. Columbia,
CGT 30008.
Lee, Love. “Good Candy.” Good Candy.
Earwig Music Co. CD4928,
1994.
Lester, Lazy. “Sugar Coated Love.”
True Blues. Excello,
LP8006.
Mahal, Taj. “Ain’t Nobody Gonna
Steal My Jelly Roll.” Natch’i
Blues. Columbia, Stereo C59698, 1968.
Marvin and Johnny. “Cherry Pie.”
Cherry Pie. Kent Records, KLP
2025, 1984.
McDowell, Mississippi Fred. “Big Fat
Mama.” Ain’t Gonna
Worry. Drive, DEZ-41040, 1994.
Moss, Buddy. “You Got to Give Me
Some of ~t.” Raunchy
Business: Hot Nuts and Lollypops,
Columbia, 46783 AAD,
1991.
McDowell, Mississippi Fred. “Good
Morning Little Schoolgirl.”
I Do Not Play No Rock n’ Roll.
Capitol, SM-409.
Rachell, Yank. “Let Me Tangle in
Your Vine.” Delmark 40th
Anniversary Blues.
Delmark, DX-2, 1993.
Sad Head, Mr. “Butcher Boy.” RCA
Victor Blues and Rhythm
Revue, 6279—1--R,
1987.
Smith, Bessie. “Empty Bed Blues.”
Empty Bed Blues. Columbia,
630450, 1928.
Smith, Bessie. “Nobody in Town Can
Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll
Like Mine.” Bessie
Smith: The Complete Recordings,
Vol. 1, disc 1.
Columbia, 47307 AAD, 1991.
Smith, Bessie. “I Need A Little
Sugar in My Bowl.” Bessie
Smith: The World’s Greatest Blues Singer. Columbia,
GP33.
Spann, Otis. “Popcorn Man.” The
Blues Is Where It’s
At. ABC/Bluesway,
BLS-6003, 1966.
Sultans, The. “Lemon Squeezing
Daddy.” Risque Rhythm. Rhino,
R270570, 1991.
Swallows, The. “It Ain’t the Meat.”
Risque Rhythm. Rhino,
R270570, 1991.
Sykes, Roosevelt. “Ice Cream
Freezer.” New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Festival.
Flying Fish Records, FF099, 1979.
Terry, Sonny. “Diggin’ My Potatoes.”
Sonny is King. Prestige,
OBCCD--521—2, 1990.
Terry, Sonny. “Tater Pie.” Sonny is
King. Prestige, OBCCD-
5212, 1990.
Waters, Muddy. “Honey Bee.” The
best of Muddy Waters. Chess,
CH1427LP.
Waters, Muddy. “Iodine in My
Coffee.” Rare and Unissued. Chess
Records, CH9180,
1984.
Williams, Big Joe. “Don’t Your
Plums Look Mellow Hanging on
Your Tree.” Don’t
Your Plums Look Me’low Hanging on Your
Tree. ABC Records,
BLS—6080, 1974.
Williamson, Sonny Boy. “Peach
Tree.” The Real Folk Blues. CH-
9272, 1987.
Wolf, Howlin’. I Asked for Water
(She Gave Me Gasoline).”
Moanin’ in the
Moonlight. Chess, CH-1434-LP.
Wynn, Big Jim. “Fat Meat. Specialty
Records Box Set: The
Specialty Story.
SSPCD—4412-2.
Young, Mighty Joe. “Chicken Heads.”
Chicken Heads. Ovation,
OVQD1437.
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