 Only known photo of Lucille Bogan | Dirty blues songs were a popular sub-genre of Blues music. The reached a height during the 1930s, and had a revival in the 1960s. Sometimes known as Hokum, the songs employed risqué lyrics, often done through innuendo and double entendres. These kind of songs were generally supposed to be humourous, full of euphemistic tongue-in-cheek sexual references. However, with some dirty blues songs the lyrics were bold and to the point. They pulled no punches, and said exactly what they meant. One of the most famous examples is the obscene song by Lucille Bogan called Shave 'em Dry (1935). Bogan is a renowned Blues singer, who in the 1930s started to write and sing more and more risqué songs about sex and drinking, culminating in Shave 'em Dry, which was one of her last recordings she made. |
Those artists that didn't go to the extremes of Bogan, would often allude to sexual practices through the metaphors of animals and food. Bo Carter, once described as the "master of the single entendre", recorded songs using thinly veiled food metaphors such as Please Warm My Weiner (1930) ,Banana In Your Fruit Basket (1931), and Let Me Roll Your Lemon (1935). Carter is regarded as one the earliest proponents of the style that is now referred to as dirty blues. When it came to animals, dogs, roosters and "pussy" cats where often employed. Not exactly Blues, more rag-time jazz, but British musician Harry Roy & His Orchestra's song My Girl's Pussy (1931) is hysterical.
These songs weren't all just throw-away comic fluff, they often challenged social taboos speaking directly to their audience in a language they understood. Many of the sings were banned from being played on the radio, and were only available to many of their listeners on jukeboxes. Even some of the most popular artists of the period recorded such songs. Dinah Washington, regarded as one of the most popular female black singers of the 1950s, recorded a couple of very risqué songs. In 1949 she recorded Long John Blues, which contained the lyrics "He took out his trusty drill. Told me to open wide. He said he wouldn't hurt me, but he filled my whole inside." The song was supposedly about a visit to her dentist! She also recorded a song called Big Long Slidin' Thing (1954), supposedly in reference to a trombonist.
These songs weren't all just throw-away comic fluff, they often challenged social taboos speaking directly to their audience in a language they understood. Many of the sings were banned from being played on the radio, and were only available to many of their listeners on jukeboxes. Even some of the most popular artists of the period recorded such songs. Dinah Washington, regarded as one of the most popular female black singers of the 1950s, recorded a couple of very risqué songs. In 1949 she recorded Long John Blues, which contained the lyrics "He took out his trusty drill. Told me to open wide. He said he wouldn't hurt me, but he filled my whole inside." The song was supposedly about a visit to her dentist! She also recorded a song called Big Long Slidin' Thing (1954), supposedly in reference to a trombonist.
| An example of the lyrics in Shave 'em Dry: "Want you to grind me baby, grind me until I cry. Say I fucked all night, and all the night before baby, And I feel just like I wanna, fuck some more, Oh great God daddy..." Oh great god indeed! Weird Retro Facts: Legendary Blues singer Robert Johnson recorded what is seen as an example of the genre They're Red Hot (1937). The song was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. | |
