Posted on 09/27/2015 5:48:35 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
When most people think about music from the 1950s, they might recall songs like the ones heard on Happy Days or American Graffiti — “Rock Around the Clock,” “The Great Pretender,” “Yakety Yak,” and other tunes that bring to mind sock hops, soda fountains, and drive-ins. But before these more innocuous songs would grace integrated radio in the late-1950s, early-50s African-American R&B took quite a few liberties with song content, and double entendres ruled the day.
As a result, there are a number of songs from the period that are surprisingly suggestive, given the state of American music in the 1950s. What follows is a list (from least obvious to the most explicit) of eight songs that use double entendres that come pretty close to crossing the line — and two that obliterate the line altogether.
1) “Work with Me Annie,” Hank Ballard and the Midnighters (1954)
(Excerpt) Read more at rebeatmag.com ...
Pluto Shervington - “Sixpence”
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Follow-ons to Work With Me Annie:
Annie Had A Baby
Sexy Ways
Annie’s Baby Had Sexy Ways
...I remember them all from the early ‘50s.
I think I still have the LP for Knockers Up.
‘All the men out mowing their yards...’
I need to dig that out and see if it’s as funny as I thought it was way back then.
When in Jr. and Sr. HS in ‘50s, there was a radio station in Fort Worth (KNOK) that played primarily black R&B/soul music and I was hooked on it! ......Late at night, “Night Train” with DJ Jim Lowe on WRR in Dallas did the same. ...btw, Jim was the ‘voice’ of Big Tex at the Texas State Fair for many, many years. .....Also late at night was the Howling Wolf broadcasting from a powerful transmitter in (or across the border) Del Rio, Texas. Fantastic music from folks like Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Slim, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, etc.
I remember some of these songs being played on one of Newark’s black radio stations. They are an outgrowth of an older tradition of blues singers like Bessie Smith. It’s unfortunate that illicit sex was considered part of being edgy and new in popular music. We still have it today of course.
Wolfman Jack. Howlin’ Wolf was the guy who made “Smokestack Lightning” and others.
I saw Bull Moose Jackson peroform in Washington, DC in 1979. He started his set by singing Rosemary Clooney’s hit “I Could Have Danced All Night” and a few other standards—which he performed well—and got polite applause. But when he sang the tunes for which he was notorious—”Bow-Legged Woman,” “Big Ten Inch,” etc., the crowd went wild.
5-10-15 Hours--Ruth Brown (1952)
Can't Do 60 No More--The Du-Droppers (1953)
Don't Stop, Dan--The Checkers (1954)
Everybody Wants a Little Peace--Billy Gray's Hollywood Band Box Review (1948)
LOL, great find! An early anti-war song full of double entendres ;)
Of course it was Wolfman Jack! I screwed up! Mixed the Wolves. Howlin’ Wolf was on some other station that I occasionally listened to.
AC/DC wins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3tqIukBKg
How about the scatalogical song, “Duke of Earl”?
Here's an actual link to the song....
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