Topic: Brand and product names in country blues

[Bunker Hill]

While I'm at it, who knows what a C.C. Pill is?

From memory of an ancient Paul Oliver explanation, Compound Cathartic.

[Bricktown Bob]

Anyone know to what Lonnie Johnson is referring in '6/88 Glide'?

Other than 6 guitar strings and 88 piano keys?  Nope.  I think that's all it is, but I could of course be wrong.

[Bunker Hill]

A & V Blues, Mississippi Matilda... probably a railroad but maybe not.

Little Brother Montgomery recorded A(labama) & V(icksburg) Railroad Blues in 1936.

[Bunker Hill]

How about A & B Blues, Boy Green?

When this was first issued on LP in 1976 a reviewer pointed out that this was probably a mishearing by whoever logged the song since what Green sings is actually AB blues and speculated that in light of the lyric might be a girl's initials. I'll give it a listen later.

[Bunker Hill]

Anyone know to what Lonnie Johnson is referring in '6/88 Glide'?

Other than 6 guitar strings and 88 piano keys?  Nope.  I think that's all it is, but I could of course be wrong.

Yep. Here's what Dick Spottswood says about this unissued acetate in the booklet to volume 14 of the LoC Bicentennial series, Folk Music In America:

"6/88 Glide" was simply tossed off in the middle of a two-day session in which Johnson and his pianist were backing St. Louis singer Victoria Spivey. Its existence was not known until recently, when it was discovered that metal parts for the matrix adjoining the Spivey session still existed, and a special pressing was made for audition. The title appears on the extreme edge of the master disc itself.

[Rivers]

Collected a couple more today.

Cadillac, 8, Speckled Red, Dirty Dozen, Yonder go your mama goin' across the field // running and a shakin' like an automobile // I hollered at your mama and I told her to wait // she slipped away from me like a Cadillac 8

And surprisingly, the first guitar brand reference:

Gibson, guitar, Roy Harvey, Lonesome Weary Blues, (spoken intro) Boys, when I'm blue and downhearted, I just reach and get my old Gibson guitar and play the weary, lonesome blues

[GhostRider]

Felicitations:

Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe perform "North Memphis Blues" as basically a singing commercial for the North Memphis Cafe. They use the name of the place at least 10X in the piece.

Alex

[Rivers]

Cadillac, Buick, Ford, Blind Willie McTell, Kill It Kid, 1949, You know papa gotta Cadillac, mama got a Buick, sister got mad because she couldn't do it // She want to kick it in a Cadillac, then in a Ford, tail jivin' on the running board

It also struck me that Lemon is likely to be singing about not just any old 'morning news' in One Dime, since the Dallas Morning News has been around since 1885:

Dallas Morning News, newspaper, Blind Lemon Jefferson, One Dime Blues, 1927, I bought that Morning News, Lord // Then I bought a cigar too

[Rivers]

We've moved the full up-to-date list to the joomla content manager database and will continue to maintain it from there. To access it you can click here or click on the new menu item on the left, 'Miscellania'. Thanks to all for posting, keep 'em coming, somebody apart from us might be desperate to know this stuff!

[Rivers]

Cadillac   Eight   Jimmie Rodgers   Jimmie The Kid   1931   On the Lehigh Valley he yodeled a while, then he went to the Nickel Plate // From the old Lake Shore and the Erie line he yodels to a Cadillac 8

Added four from Sonny Boy Williamson; Ford V-8's, Frigidaire, Western Union

Filled in some more lyrics.

[Bricktown Bob]

This ones for Ari.... "Winter Green" a brand of chewing gum from Charlie Poole.

I'm thinking "Wintergreen" here refers to chewing tobacco, probably from Beechnut.

[Rivers]

Added Old Taylor / Memphis Slim from the 'name that...' thread, apologies I missed that the first time around.

Researching Wintergreen: gum or mentholated chewing tobacco? Certainly there was chewing gum in them days, and Wintergreen was a brand. Question is was there also a tobacco product, and do the full lyrics shed any light.

[Slack]

I thought chewing tobacco also - I tried to google the history of beechnut, came up empty, but I'm certain they were in business at he time.  I don't have the song handy but the lyrics you posted '...she chewed and chawed.."  A plug of tobacco is also known as a "chaw".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaw#Chewing_tobacco

[Rivers]

Yeah, I reckon chewing tobacco is more likely given the context. Will amend in the next update. Got tons of search hits on wintergreen chewing tobacco.

[Rivers]

I've been updating the Brands & Products table with old logos etc, check it out... click on 'Bed Slats & All' in the left menu, or click here

BTW I found a nice page full of Jamaica Ginger (Jake) bottles:

http://www.cocktaildb.com/ingr_gallery?id=87