#3 Food
In this column: kidney stew, grits ain't groceries, potatoes, potato head, Sweet Potato Blues, Potato Head Blues, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Little Milton, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong
KIDNEY STEW
Crazy about you baby, but I just ain't got the price
You're a high class mama, so I guess it ain't no dice
Goin' back home, and get my old gal Sue
She ain't the caviar kind, just plain old kidney stew
Old…
Kidney stew - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES
Grits are a porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Also grits are girls raised in The South.
Groceries are items you buy in a grocer's shop.
Little Milton
Because you know I love you, baby
Ooh you know I love you baby, yeah
Now if I don't love you baby, I tell you
Grits ain't grocery, eggs ain't poultry
And Mona Lisa was a man
...
POTATOES
Potato is a well known vegetable. It has also a different meaning: in a slang potato is someone uninteresting, dull, strange, ugly or fat.
In the song 'Digging my potatoes' it refers to girl friends.
The explanation of "Diggin' my potatoes" is on DoggoneBlues-page (zzyw).
A Potato Head is a foolish person.
Diggin' my potatoes - Muddy Waters
Lonnie Johnson - Sweet Potato Blues
Old uncle Josh, he lives down on the farm.
He raise sweet potatoes and cotton and corn.
He said by gosh, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
I got a sweet potato head is steaming hot.
Before I give it away I'm goin' ta let it rot.
I got sweet potatoes, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
...
Lonnie Johnson – Sweet Potato Blues (1927)
Louis Armstrong - Potato Head Blues
Potato Head Blues is a song that greatly represents the face of early jazz music during the early 1900’s.
This music is poking and smooth. The instruments interrupt and contradict each other—but the effect is continuous, toe-tapping and joyous.
Louis Armstrong – Potato Head Blues
Why is it called Potato Head Blues?
Sam Gill explains at jazzlives.wordpress.com.
“You ever heard the expression ‘potato head’? Well, the expression goes way back in time and has to do with the parades which frequently took place on West Broad Street. If you were an important figure in the black community, say, a businessman, it was expected of you to have your own band to march in the parades. The bigger the band, the better in terms of your the image. So, every now and then you would beef up your band with one or two good-looking men. The problem was, a lot of the time these fellows looked good, but they couldn’t play. So, you’d put a potato in the bell of their horns and let them march. Of course, no sound came out, but that was okay ’cause you only wanted the guys to look good. That’s how they got to be known as potato heads.”
Louis must have said to his band: “Boys, I have a new song for us: it’s about those street parades in New Orleans. You’ll never forget it: blues for the cats who couldn't play, so we had to make sure we couldn't hear them play a note, even tough they were sharp-looking cats. One, two!”