Need A Little Sugar in my Bowl
October 3, 2015 11:19 PM   Subscribe

He shakes my ashes
Greases my griddle
Churns my butter
And he strokes my fiddle
My man, is such a handy man

Alberta Hunter - My Handy Man

Euphemisms in the blues. NSFW.

Ma Rainey - Prove it on me Blues
lyrics
Bessie Smith - Need A Little Sugar in my Bowl
lyrics
Memphis Minnie - Me and My Chauffeur Blues
lyrics
Howlin' Wolf - Back Door Man
lyrics
Denise Lasalle - Lick It Before You Stick It Way more modern but so much fun...
Millie Jackson - Slow Tongue Also modern but also pretty fun...
lyrics

Sometimes there's some doubt, as in The Frim Fram Sauce and sometimes there's simply no need for euphemism at all. Lucille Bogan explains exactly what she wants in Shave Me Dry

Need some more? Streetwalking Blues and Copulatin' Blues should fill your cup just fine.
posted by ashbury (51 comments total) 77 users marked this as a favorite


 


While we're on the topic of, uh, butter, Wynonie Harris's Keep on Churnin' is pretty good:

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 more


Related: Dirty R&B
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:01 AM on October 4, 2015 [3 favorites]




Memphis Minnie - Ice Man

Ice man, ice man, come on up
You know my box is hard to fill up

posted by teponaztli at 12:24 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


TV was the thing in 1953.
posted by riddley at 12:28 AM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


^^Awesome, everything old is chill again.

Some classics more explicit than others. (The Clovers - Rotten Cocksucker's Ball, obvs completely UNSAFE FOR THE OFFICE)

Back to the blues, something else folks just love is my Big Ten Inch (record of my favorite blues, by Bull Moose Jackson. A lot of folks will recognize it from the the Aerosmith cover.)

Bo Carter, pretty much anything by him on the youtube. Which is actually kicking ass on the recommendations sidepanel for the first time in years for related videos.
posted by mcrandello at 12:45 AM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]




If you ain't gonna squeeze my peaches baby
Then don't shake my tree
posted by oheso at 2:19 AM on October 4, 2015


Thanks for the great Sunday morning music ashbury!
posted by james33 at 3:09 AM on October 4, 2015


... record of her favorite blues

Oops! mcrandello beat me to it (see what I did there?)
posted by oheso at 4:18 AM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


I originally thought the lyrics were "I want the frim fram sauce with theosophy."

It was a very confusing time for me.
posted by lumensimus at 4:19 AM on October 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


If I can't sell it I'll sit on it
posted by oheso at 4:22 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Snatch & the Poontangs
posted by oheso at 4:28 AM on October 4, 2015


We had an old record called "Banana in My Fruit Basket" that had many of these juicy songs.
posted by mermayd at 4:31 AM on October 4, 2015


Think Twice Version X
posted by oheso at 4:33 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Fat Meat is Good Meat
posted by oheso at 4:38 AM on October 4, 2015


Please Warm My Weiner
posted by oheso at 4:40 AM on October 4, 2015


Don't Mash My Digger So Deep
posted by oheso at 4:43 AM on October 4, 2015


My Pencil Won't Write My More
posted by oheso at 4:47 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Bone Me Like You Own Me
posted by oheso at 4:52 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Not exactly the blues, but inspired by: Fiona Apple, Hot Knife
posted by dis_integration at 5:21 AM on October 4, 2015


TV was the thing in 1953

Is that the original Netflix & chill?
posted by dis_integration at 5:28 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Big Long Slidin' Thing
posted by oheso at 5:34 AM on October 4, 2015


Back when I was DJing blues dances, my folks got me an album of Christmas blues with such classics as Baby, I want to trim your beautiful Christmas tree. ("Baby, I'll bring my hatchet, my beautiful Christmas balls. I'll sprinkle my snow upon you and put mistletoe on your walls.")
posted by ChuraChura at 6:22 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh man thank you for this rich dish!

Saw Alberta Hunter at the Cookery in NY back in the 80s; she was no youngster but you had better believe she was still hot, and she still knew how to turn a phrase just so.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:44 AM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]




Dinah Washington, Long John Blues

Big Boy Arnold, "Jelly Roll Baker"

So fun! I do a bunch of blues dancing and a lot of these ("My Handy Man" and "If I Can't Sell It I'll Keep Sittin On It" especially) are super fun to dance to.
posted by aka burlap at 7:31 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


No Roy C?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:33 AM on October 4, 2015


Oh, and previously...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:40 AM on October 4, 2015




And to dispel any notion of exclusivity of race or class or region, Harry Roy and his Orchestra were performing this ditty about a young lady's pet cat across the Atlantic in 1931.
posted by Lou Stuells at 8:02 AM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Robert Johnson was particularly good at this, check out Terraplane Blues
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:13 AM on October 4, 2015


The TV sketch comedy version: Funky Walker Dirty Talker with Desperation Lee (Phil LaMarr).
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:04 AM on October 4, 2015


The blues can be good without the innuendo too.
posted by idiopath at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2015


It's been a bunch of these intermingled with Gilbert and Sullivan today. It's a peculiar melange.

When I can sing along, of lemon squeezins and of jelly rolls
With Ma Rainey, Minnie, Bessie, and their legendary sugar bowls
When I know what I'm getting when I pay for Bess' barbecue
With lyrics so overt that no one possibly could misconstrue
Although on many matters I agree I am untenable
The best music, old or modern, majorly regards the genitals.
posted by Lou Stuells at 11:17 AM on October 4, 2015 [8 favorites]


Bette Midler covered Long John Blues.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 11:40 AM on October 4, 2015


You tell me you need your front end aligned? Don't panic, I'm a Master Mechanic!
posted by cleroy at 12:25 PM on October 4, 2015


shakespeherian: You can squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg

Robert Johnson's lyrics (which may well not have been his original creation), were (in turn) lifted by Led Zeppelin, who liked the line they named the song from it.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:40 PM on October 4, 2015


Oh, and from Kim Deal: Divine Hammer and Gigantic
posted by dis_integration at 1:32 PM on October 4, 2015


The therm "back door man" meant a man who has daytime affairs with married women (comes in the back door while the husband is going out the front door on his way to work). I get the other, more overtly sexual, interpretation but I have doubts whether the song was ever meant that way.
posted by rocket88 at 1:46 PM on October 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


No love for Bessie Smith? Can't go wrong with the Empty Bed Blues
posted by jefflowrey at 2:29 PM on October 4, 2015


Don't forget Big Bill Broonzy


Louise, I believe
Somebody been fishin' in my pond
They been catchin' all my perches
Grinding up the bone
Whoa Louise, baby why don't you hurry home?
posted by djinn dandy at 3:00 PM on October 4, 2015


I'll give you jewelry and money, too, That ain't all, that ain't all I'll do for you. You can never go wrong with Sam Cooke.
posted by lyssabee at 4:52 PM on October 4, 2015




It's been a bunch of these intermingled with Gilbert and Sullivan today. It's a peculiar melange.

What, never?
No, never!
What, never?
Well, hardly ever!
Hardly ever sings the big, big F!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:57 PM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Queen Latifah's "Profiles in Jazz" skit from Saturday Night Live is relevant to this thread.

(Apologies for not being able to find a more user friendly version.)
posted by talking leaf at 8:43 PM on October 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Flashbacks, Volume 3: Hot & Sexy: Copulation Blues is another album full of this kind of wonderful filth.
I think I might have just had a username fail...
posted by Dr Ew at 5:41 AM on October 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


I get so much more satisfaction out of ridiculous euphemisms than I do from lazy straight shooters like Akon.

"I see you winding and grinding up on that pole
I know you see me looking at you and you already know
I wanna fuck you, fuck you, you already know
I wanna fuck you, fuck you, you already know girl"

I don't think I'm a prude. I just think the subtext of most songs is better left as subtext.
posted by GrapeApiary at 7:41 AM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


I don't think I'm a prude. I just think the subtext of most songs is better left as subtext.

Yeah, me, too. It's more creative, which is kind of the point of art for me.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:44 AM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


I do burlesque and I came up with so many ideas for acts listening to these! I made a playlist and have been doing sultry dances all over the house.

Ruth Brown "If I Can't Sell It" is my favorite!

Thanks for sharing!
posted by chatongriffes at 10:50 AM on October 5, 2015




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