After Clara Smith, more so-called dirty blues from the 1920s, with a fabulously filthy number and also a then-taboo lesbian song from the singer born as Lucille Anderson, but had two performing names. Bogan, as we'll call her here, was born in Amory, Mississippi, and was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She began recording in 1923, and continued right through the 1930s with a variety of successes including Seaboard Blues, Troubled Mind, and Superstitious Blues. Her other songs include Stew Meat Blues, Coffee Grindin' Blues, My Georgia Grind, Honeycomb Man, Mr. Screw Worm in Trouble, and Bo Hog Blues. Accompanied for much of her career by pianist Walter Roland, and sometimes guitarist Josh White, Bogan, was a mischievous character with a wonderful voice, and specialised in songs about drinking and sex, often not averse to changing lyrics to maximum effect. The words to Shave 'Em Dry are fairly eyebrow raising even by today's standards. While she herself got married and had a son, and then remarried to a man 22 years her junior, Bogan clearly had a eye for pleasure from different sources. In the second song, B.D. stands for bulldyke or bulldagger, and makes it pretty clear that men aren't necessarily needed at all.
I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb
I got somethin' between my legs'll make a dead man come
Oh daddy, baby won't you shave 'em dry?
Now, draw it out!
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
Grind me honey and shave me dry
And when you hear me holler baby
Want you to shave it dry
I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb
Daddy you say that's the kind of 'em you want, and you can make 'em come
Oh, daddy shave me dry
And I'll give you somethin' baby
Swear it'll make you cry
I'm gon' turn back my mattress, and let you oil my springs
I want you to grind me daddy, 'til the bell do ring
Oh daddy, want you to shave 'em dry
Oh great God daddy, if you can't shave 'em baby won't you try?
Now if fuckin' was the thing, that would take me to heaven
I'd be fuckin' in the studio, till the clock strike eleven
Oh daddy, daddy shave 'em dry
I would fuck you baby, honey I'd make you cry
Now your nuts hang down like a damn bell sapper
And your dick stands up like a steeple
Your goddam ass-hole stands open like a church door
And the crabs walks in like people
Ow, shit!
Ooh!
Baby, won't you shave 'em dry
A big sow gets fat from eatin' corn
And a pig gets fat from suckin'
Reason you see this whore, fat like I am
Great God, I got fat from fuckin'
Eeeeh! Shave 'em dry
My back is made of whalebone
And my cock is made of brass
And my fuckin' is made for workin' men's two dollars
Great God, round to kiss my ass
Oh! Whoo, daddy, shave 'em dry.
Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men
Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men
'Cause the way they treat us is a lowdown and dirty sin
B.D. women, you sure can't understand
B.D. women, you sure can't understand
They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man
B.D. women, they all done learned their plan
B.D. women, they all done learned their plan
They can lay their jive just like a natural man
B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough
B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough
They all drink up plenty whiskey and they sure will strut their stuff
B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough
B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough
And when they get ready to spend it, they know they have to go.
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