The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Speaking of Charlie, I did some digging in the Lenoirstreet archives and found this promo postcard for the gent. It was mailed to "Mae" who lived in Schenectady on Dec 16, 1945. Lill was probably in New York doing a little Christmas shopping.
Jim

Wolfe wrote:Interesting, kind of tedious.

I don't know about "guys in smoking jackets" sitting around listening to this. Rather a bunch of middle aged Archie Bunkers in someone's basement, playing poker and chuckling over this record newly acquired by one of them, just before they all run home to give their wives a sound rogering.

We dont really have basements over here except in industrial/retail buildings. Even attics are a rarity. Occasionally a domestic home will have a very small wine cellar, but again it's a rarity.
Men in smoking jackets & an ascot would have been very fashionable around the time of this recording in Australia. This of course wouldn't have stopped poker & two-up being played at such a gathering

Here is what I believe to be a label by the maker Risque.
In the runoff is 11/30/48 and DS-1 on this side.
The other has 11/30/48 and DS-2.

Here is a selection of its fowl mouthed lyrical content...

I used to work in Chicago, in a department store,
I used to work in Chicago. I did, but I don't anymore.
A lady came in, and asked for a fowl
I asked her what kind she'd adore
A goose, she said, so I gave her a goose
I don't work there no more.

Party on Wayne! ... Party on Garth!

Far better mainstream filth is had with the song How Could Little Red Riding Hood. As I recall it was the first song banned from radio.

James.

Here's a compilation of the various verses of this one:

I Used to Work in Chicago

I used to work in Chicago, in a department store,
I used to work in Chicago. I did, but I don't anymore.
A lady came in, and asked for some cake
I asked her what kind she'd adore--
"Layer," she said, so layer I did
I don't work there anymore.


I used to work in Chicago, in a department store,
I used to work in Chicago. I did, but I don't anymore.
A lady came in, and asked for a fowl
I asked her what kind she'd adore--
"A goose," she said, so I gave her a goose
I don't work there anymore.

(similarly)

A lady came into the hat shop,
I asked, "What kind would you like?"
"Felt" she said, felt I did

A lady came in for a sleeper
I asked, "which berth would you like?"
"Upper" she said; Up 'er I did

A lady came in for a water bottle
I said, "what kind would you like?"
"Rubber " she said; rub 'er I did

A lady came in for a sweater
I asked, "what kind would you like?"
"Jumper, she said"; jump 'er I did

A lady came in for a ticket
I asked, "Where would you like to go?"
"Bangor," she said; bang 'er I did

Also:
Hardware...nails....nail her I did
Hardware...screw....screw her I did
Fruit......plums....plumb her I did
Cinnamon...sticks...stick her I did
Peas.......split....split her I did
Milk.......cream....cream her I did
Covers.....spread...spread her I did
Rope.......jump.....jump her I did
Booze......liquor...lick 'er I did


It's all very like the old joke:

"I got fired from my job- a woman came into the furniture department and asked if I could show her something nice in a double bed"

This all pales in comparison to the 'blue' stuff Jelly Roll Morton recorded for Alan Lomax in the 1930's

As outright foul mouthed and dirty as it gets. Even by today's standards, it's pretty out there.

I came accross this video on youtube. A recording from 1931 - now it could all be innocent but the inuendo is certainly there! The title says it all! Its quite a catchy tune though - a dirty tune you can hum along to!

EDIT: After receiving a comment about the appropriatness of this video on a forum frequented by all ages I have decided to delete the link.

Another hit of the era was 'She had to go and lose it at the Astor'. Not quite as explicit as "pussy", but still full of double entendre. I much prefer the more gentle blue recordings of that era to the explicit "I want to f%&k you in the %%s" type released today. A notorious record, with hugely cleaned up lyrics was Carson Robison's 'Barnacle Bill the sailor', recorded with an all star band, including Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, the Dorseys and so forth. Just search in Youtube for the original version.
Many songs were released with censored lyrics in the late 20s and early 30s. But everyone knew the original versions.
Funny thing is that quite often they were recorded by 'hot' bands (pun intended), with excellent jazz solos. People like Venuti and Bing Crosby were notorious for their love of dirty lyrics. If only the test recordings for all kind of hit numbers with them foul mouthing thru the lyrics had been saved.

Peter.

Swing,
Thanks for sharing the video. i was laughing my butt off when I heard it. If I can only find it on a 78....
Harvey Kravitz

I did some googling on Harry Roy just now and accidently found the lyrics for "My Girl's pussy". Roy wrote both lyrics and music. I've copied them in below (they are public domain in the U.S., so I don't seriously infringe on copyrght I think). It was banned from radio in the UK of course, that had started redlining around 1928. Another risqué song was "Let's all be fairies", that meant exactly that, albeit in very covert terms.

Peter.

MY GIRL's PUSSY
There's one pet I like to pet, and every evening we get set.
I stroke it every chance I get, it's my girl's pussy.
Seldom plays and never purrs, and I love the thoughts it stirs.
But I don't mind because it's hers, it's my girl's pussy.
Often it goes out at night, returns at break of dawn.
No matter what the weather's like, it's always nice and warm.
It's never dirty, always clean. In giving thrills, never mean.
But it's the best I've ever seen, it's my girl's pussy.
There's one pet I like to pet, and every evening we get wet.
I stroke it every chance I get, it's my girl's pussy.
Seldom plays, never purrs, and I love thoughts it stirs.
But I don't mind because it's hers, it's my girl's pussy.
So often it goes out at night, and returns at break of dawn, break of dawn.
No matter what the weather's like, it's always dry and warm.
I bring tidbits that it loves, we spoon like two turtledoves.
I take care to remove my gloves, when stroking my girl's pussy.

syncopeter wrote:I did some googling on Harry Roy just now and accidently found the lyrics for "My Girl's pussy". Roy wrote both lyrics and music. I've copied them in below (they are public domain in the U.S., so I don't seriously infringe on copyrght I think). It was banned from radio in the UK of course, that had started redlining around 1928. Another risqué song was "Let's all be fairies", that meant exactly that, albeit in very covert terms.

Peter.

MY GIRL's PUSSY
There's one pet I like to pet, and every evening we get set.
I stroke it every chance I get, it's my girl's pussy.
Seldom plays and never purrs, and I love the thoughts it stirs.
But I don't mind because it's hers, it's my girl's pussy.
Often it goes out at night, returns at break of dawn.
No matter what the weather's like, it's always nice and warm.
It's never dirty, always clean. In giving thrills, never mean.
But it's the best I've ever seen, it's my girl's pussy.
There's one pet I like to pet, and every evening we get wet.
I stroke it every chance I get, it's my girl's pussy.
Seldom plays, never purrs, and I love thoughts it stirs.
But I don't mind because it's hers, it's my girl's pussy.
So often it goes out at night, and returns at break of dawn, break of dawn.
No matter what the weather's like, it's always dry and warm.
I bring tidbits that it loves, we spoon like two turtledoves.
I take care to remove my gloves, when stroking my girl's pussy.

Ah, yes - I've heard Crumb's rendition of that one........