Hokum songs

Subject: RE: Hokum songs
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 16 May 15 - 06:45 PM

Joe,

I am surprised that you were unaware of Hokum. There is a whole slew of this material by various groups of musicians recorded under the name of The Hokum Boys and The Hokum Trio. Such musicians as Tampa Red & Georgia Tom Dorsey (before he took to writing spirituals}, Bob Robinson,Alex Hill, Big Bill Broonzy etc.etc.
Forget Wikipaedia and refer to Dixon & Godrich.

Hoot

Subject: RE: Hokum songs
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 16 May 15 - 03:01 PM

Hokum referred to the corny or funny or nonsense. The _Literary Digest_ defined "hokum" as "low comedy verging on vulgarity" in 1917.
_American Parade_ magazine said in 1926: "Hokum has innumerable forms : mother-love — innocence betrayed — the pathos of partings — long-drawn-out despair to slow music...."

Hokum songs didn't have to be sexual and didn't have to be blues. Hokum referred to entertainment that the entertainers themselves didn't consider high-class, or necessarily even entertaining, but the audience liked.

Subject: RE: Hokum songs
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 15 May 15 - 05:06 PM

I have not heard this term used for songs, but older fiddlers here in the Ozarks have used the term for types of fiddle tunes or strokes that cannot be used in contests.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY KITCHEN MAN (from Bessie Smith)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 May 15 - 04:08 PM

MY KITCHEN MAN
Written by Maceo Pinkard & Andy Razaf.
As recorded by Bessie Smith, 1929.

Madam Bucks was quite deluxe, servants by the score,
Footmans at each door, butlers and maids galore,
But one day Dan, her kitchen man, gave in his notice, he's through.
She cried, "Oh, Dan, don't go. It'll grieve me if you do."

I love his cabbage gravy, his hash.
Crazy 'bout his succotash.
I can't do without my kitchen man.
Wild about his turnip top.
Like the way he warms my chop.
I can't do without my kitchen man.
Anybody else can leave and I would only laugh,
But he means too much to me, and you ain't heard the half.
Oh, his jelly roll is so nice and hot,
Never fails to touch the spot.
I can't do without my kitchen man.

His frankfurters are oh so sweet.
How I like his sausage meat!
I can't do without my kitchen man.
Oh, how that boy can open clams!
No one else is can touch my hams.
I can't do without my kitchen man.
When I eat his doughnuts, all I leave is the hole.
Any time he wants to, why, he can use my sugar bowl.
Oh, his baloney's really worth a try,
Never fails to satisfy.
I can't do without my kitchen man.

Subject: Lyr Add: I DON'T WANT IT ALL (from Alberta Hunter)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 May 15 - 02:42 PM

You can hear this at YouTube; also on Spotify.


I DON'T WANT IT ALL
Brooks
As recorded by Alberta Hunter with Perry Bradford's Mean Four, Okeh 8315-A, 1926.

'Twas on a picnic day on an excursion train Bill Jones happened to be,
Full of bootleg hootch and …(?) gin, feeling merrily.
In a bag Bill had some chit'lin's, about the best that could be found.
He laid them on a seat, then a lady came in, and on them she sat down.
Bill let her sit there a while,
Then he said with a smile:

"Lady, I don't want it all, but you've got to give me some
Of what you're sitting on.
Ain't no use for us to quarrel or fuss.
Let us try and get along.
Now my heart's as big as any stone.
I'll give you some of anything that I own,
But you can't have it all; you've got to give me some
Of what you're sitting on.

"I say: I don't want it all, but you got to give me some
Of what you're sitting on.
Ain't no use for us to quarrel or fuss.
Let us try and get along.
Now it ain't no cake or nothing sweet,
But you are sitting on some mighty good meat,
And my pleasure trip won't be complete
Till I get what you are sitting on."

Subject: RE: Hokum songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 May 15 - 03:43 AM

So, Jim, my first question on seeing the thread title was, what's a hokum song? But instead of asking, I Googled.

Wikipedia says Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early blues recordings, and is seen from time to time in modern American blues and blues rock.

An example of hokum lyrics is this sample from "Meat Balls", by Lil Johnson, recorded about 1937,

"Got out late last night, in the rain and sleet
Tryin' to find a butcher that grind my meat
Yes I'm lookin' for a butcher
He must be long and tall
If he want to grind my meat
'Cause I'm wild about my meat balls."


Gee, I didn't know that. Thanks for bringing this up.
-Joe-

HouseconcertFlyer.pdf (click)

Subject: Lyr Add: GET 'EM FROM THE PEANUT MAN (THE NEW HOT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 15 - 01:02 AM

GET 'EM FROM THE PEANUT MAN (THE NEW HOT NUTS)
As recorded by Lil Johnson, 1936*.

[Lines in italics are repeated for each verse.]

1. Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    Anybody here want to buy my nuts?
    Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    I've got nuts to sell.
Six for a quarter, ten for a half,
You can have a dozen if you crack 'em fast.
    Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    Buy 'em from the peanut man.

2. These nuts I got, they just won't slow,
If you eat 'em once, you will eat some mo'.

3. Now you see that man all dressed in black.
His nuts is so hot, he keep 'em in a sack.

4. Me an' the hot-dog man had a scuffle on the groun'.
If you want my nuts, don't have to throw me down.

5. When you see me standin' on the corner so soon,
Tryin' to get my nuts all sold before noon.


* This was the second of two similar recordings she made. The first one, from 1935, had lyrics identical to those recorded by Georgia White, above.

Subject: Lyr Add: HOT NUTS SWING (Stella Johnson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 15 - 12:29 AM

HOT NUTS SWING
As recorded by Stella Johnson, 1936.

[Lines in italics are repeated for each verse.]

1. Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    Anybody here want to buy some nuts?
    Hot nuts, sellin' nuts!
    Boys, I've got nuts to sell.
Now you see that boy standin' by the door.
He bought some once; now he wants some more.
    Hot nuts, sellin' nuts!
    Buy 'em from the peanut man.

2. Now you ask me why I whistle blues.
If you had hot nuts, you could whistle, too.

3. Now when a pig gets warm, he starts to grunt.
When these men get warm, they start lookin' for –hm!

Subject: HOT NUTS (GET 'EM FROM THE PEANUT MAN)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 15 - 12:13 AM

HOT NUTS (GET 'EM FROM THE PEANUT MAN)
As recorded by Georgia White, 1936.

[Lines in italics are repeated for each verse.]

1. Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    Anybody here want to buy my nuts?
    Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    I've got nuts for sale.
One for five, two for ten,
If you'll buy 'em once, you'll buy 'em again.
    Sellin' nuts, hot nuts!
    You buy 'em from the peanut man.

2. You tell me your nuts is mighty fine,
But I bet your nuts ain't as hot as mine.

3. They say your nuts is mighty small.
Better have small nuts than none at all.

4. You see that man all dressed in brown.
He's got the hottest nuts in town.

5. When a hog gets hungry, he begins to grunt.
When a man gets hungry, he begins to hunt.