zzvs | Multiple word meanings in blues lyrics (1)

sayings_kwibus

Multiple word meanings in blues lyrics (1)

In this column:  Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee Blues, Bob Lee Junior, Bob Lee Junior Blues, Natchez, Mississippi, Salty Dog Blues, Black Pony Blues, foxtrot and pace, gait, Charlie, Drayman Blues, peaches and don't shake my tree, potatoes and don't dig so deep,  Memphis Minnie, Memphis Jug Band, Bo Carter, Arthur Crudup, T-Bone walker, Clifford Gibson

Bumble Bee

...
can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, I want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me bumble bee, until I get enough
...

Bumble Bee = male lover with noteworthy stinger

Memphis Minnie and Memphis Jug Band – Bumble bee blues

Bob Lee Junior (she was named for General Robert E. Lee)

Bob Lee Junior

...
Wish my man could holler
Like Bob Lee Junior does.
Wish my man could holler
Like Bob Lee Junior does.
I would follow my daddy
Most everywhere he goes.
...

Bob Lee Junior = a Mississippi river steamboat.
The steamboat gained its greatest fame for racing and beating the then-current speed record holder, Natchez, in an 1870 steamboat race. It usually ran between New Orleans and Natchez, Mississippi. However, during spans of bad business, it would forsake Natchez and instead go to St. Louis or Louisville, Kentucky.

The Memphis Jug Band – Bob Lee junior blues

1960; Bo Carter, Will Shade, Gus Cannon

My salty Dog

...
I want you to be my salty dog,
how 'bout you bein' my little salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a cute little old redhead salty dog
Everybody wants a little salty dog,
how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a sweet little old salty dog
...

Salty dog = slang for favorite person, best friend or lover. Derived from the practice of rubbing salt on hunting dogs to keep off ticks. Since salt was commonly in limited supply, one would only do this to their favorite dog, and it became slang for favorite person.

1969; Arthur Crudup

Black Pony Blues

I got a coal black mare, oh Lord, how that horse can run
I got a coal black mare, oh Lord, how that horse can run
Well, she win every race, man, you don't see how it's done
...
Says, she fox-trot and pace, and I rode that horse today
Says, she fox-trot and pace, and I rode that horse today
Well, when mornin' come, she had never broke her gait
...

Coal black mare = ebony black woman, mare is a wonderful name for a woman with a beautiful personality, she is so goddamn nice and so cool in the same time.
She fox-trot and pace = a pace, as of a horse, consisting of a series of short steps, as in slackening from a trot to a walk. Foxtrotting is also lying or telling stories about one's sexual experiences or conquests which never really occured.
Never broke her gait = continue at the same pace

Arthur Crudup – Black pony blues

T-Bone Walker

Charlie

Glamour Girl
...
Seven o'clock is rising hour
You think that's a crime
You better find  a better place for Charlie
'Cause I'm through feeding ya mine
Glamour girl
...

Charlie = a white man, the boss man

Clifford Gibson

Drayman Blues

Mister drayman, mister drayman, back your truck up to my door
Mister drayman, mister drayman, back your truck up to my door
Take my trunk down to the station, check it "never here, no more"

Baby, and if you don't like my peaches, baby, please don't ya touch my tree
Baby, and if you don't love my peaches, baby, please don't touch my tree
And if you don't want me to have your potatoes, don't mash my digger down so deep

Drayman = one whose work is hauling by dray; a drayman was historically the driver of a dray, a low, flat-bed wagon without sides, pulled generally by horses or mules that were used to transport all kinds of goods.

Drayman

Don't like my peaches, better not touch (shake) my tree = don’t mess with something you have no business in trying to shake up; when that shit falls on your head, and it will, that is the consequence that you shoulda knowed you had coming.
If you don't like my potatoes, why do you dig so deep? = composers used various images to create beauty and convey their meaning; frequently they employed food imagery, sometimes to express serious concerns and often to imply sexual activity. Food imagery suggesting sexual activity.

See also page Relationships gone bad.

Clifford Gibson – Drayman blues