The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137313 Message #3140182
Posted By: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
22-Apr-11 - 05:05 AM
Thread Name: Origins: My Donkey Want Water
Subject: RE: Origins: My Donkey Want Water
How rude is this song? About as rude as you can get. The Donkey metaphor / euphemism for the more brutish aspects of male sexuality is an old one, but listening to Macbeth's rendering I'd say it becomes even more explicit somehow, especially in equating liquid refreshment with female sexual response.
my donkey want water / better hold your daughter
Origins?
Well, my thinking is that the Tradition of music is largely defined by its structure, culture and idiom. A song may arise from structure & idiom even by way of freestyling and still be traditional of that idiom - if you see what I mean. A lot of Folk Songs & Folk Processes operate in this way - they only become frozen at the point of collection, which is a different thing from these old studio recordings, which seem possessed of a greater freedom somehow.