BLACK SNAKE MOAN
(Blind Lemon Jefferson)

I - I ain't got no mama now
I - I ain't got no mama now
She told me late last night, "You don't need no mama no how"
Mmm, mmm, black snake crawlin' in my room
Mmm, mmm, black snake crawlin' in my room
Some pretty mama better come and get this black snake soon
Ohh-oh, that must have been a bed bug, baby a chinch can't bite that hard
Ohh-oh, that must have been a bed bug, honey a chinch can't bite that hard
Ask my sugar for fifty cents, she said "Lemon, ain't a child in the yard"
Mama, that's all right, mama that's all right for you
Mama, that's all right, mama that's all right for you
Mama, that's all right, most seen all you do
Mmm, mmm, what's the matter now?
Mmm, mmm, honey what's the matter now?
Sugar, what's the matter, don't like no black snake no how
Mmm, mmm, wonder where my black snake gone?
Mmm, mmm, wonder where this black snake gone?
Black snake mama done run my darlin' home
__________
Note: Jefferson's first single for Paramount was also his most successful record
ing.
An excellent example of how Blind Lemon used overtly suggestive sexual imagery w
ithout
becoming salacious;
Note 1: Chinch bug, defined in different terms as a type of bed bug and as anoth
er
insect which is destructive to types of lawn grass;
Note 2: lyric is garbled, "Most seen all you do" is a best guess.
recording of circa June 1926, Chicago, Illinois
from Blind Lemon Jefferson (Milestone 47022)

@blues
filename[ BLKSNAKE
mudcat.org

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