Topic: Brand and product names in country blues

[dj]

I can't believe we missed this, but a search doesn't find it...

Candy:  Baby Ruth, Milky Way

Bo Carter, "Baby Ruth"

"Now some people like all-day suckers, some like a Milky Way,
But if you don't get a Baby Ruth, you can take 'em all away"

[Rivers]

We did missed it, and thanks you very much.

[Rivers]

Frank Hutchison, K.C. Blues, Alright boys, this is Frank Hutchison settin' back in the Union Square Hotel, and just tuh' gettin' right on good red liquor. Alright Frank, step on it....

[dj]

Automobiles:  Ford Model A

Bill Gaither, "Old Model A Blues" (1938):  "It will cost you some money if you want this Model A to go".
 

[dj]

Stores, grocery:  Hill's Grocery Company

Walter Roland, Sonny Scott, Lucille Bogan, "Red Cross Blues", 1933:  "I cannot go to Hill's, I got to go to the Red Cross store".

Roland, Scott, and Bogan all did solo versions of the song at this session.  The exact lyric of the refrain changes from verse to verse and from lyric to lyric.

Hill's Grocery Company was a small chain of supermarkets - 35 stores when they were bought out by Winn-Dixie in 1962 - around Birmingham Alabama, the hometown of Roland, Scott, and Bogan at the time.  There's a picture of a Hill's grocery here 

[dj]

Stores, grocery:  Piggly Wiggly

Charlie "Specks" Mcfadden, "Groceries On The Shelf", 1929:  "My name is Piggly Wiggly, I've got groceries on my shelf".

McFadden recorded this song a number of times.  See "Groceries On My Shelf No. 2", "Piggly Wiggly Blues", and "Groceries On the Shelf (Piggly Wiggly)"

[dj]

Beverages, non-alcohol:  Maxwell House Coffee

On Lulu Scott's "Baby I Can Holler" (1938), Scott is singing about a bow legged woman who lived behind the jail and had a sign that said "Good stuff for sale".  Monkey Joe Coleman, accompanying  Scott on piano, says in response "I bet you that woman had some good stuff.  Just like Maxwell House coffee.  Yeah!" 

[Rivers]

Great stuff dj, just when I thought we were running out. Can't think how we missed Piggly Wiggly. Didn't Lucille Bogan record "Groceries..." as well?

Now you mention it Fred McDowell has another Red Cross Stores reference.

[dj]

Yep, Lucille Bogan recorded Groceries On The Shelf on July 19 1933 with Walter Roland on piano.  One of my favorite sessions.  Can't think how I missed that!

Does McDowell's "Red Cross Store" mention Hill's?  I don't think so.  Do the Red Cross relief stores count as products/brands/services? 

[Rivers]

Good question... was it run as a commercial concern, would be the question I guess.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I got the idea somewhere, a long time ago, that the Red Cross Stores sung of by Leadbelly, Fred McDowell and other singers were Army induction centers run by the Selective Service System; hence an unwillingness to go down to the Red Cross Store.  I heard this so long ago that I can't remember the source and I'm sure I did not check it out at the time, since I was a kid.  Does anyone actually know the answer to this question?
All best,
Johnm   

[dj]

I'm not that familiar with either McDowell's or Leadbelly's versions of "Red Cross Store".  But the song that Walter Roland and Sonny Scott sang was clearly about a Depression-era relief effort.  The lyrics speak of getting cans of beans and tripe and sacks of flour, and about how when the singer (or his girlfriend) is working again, they can go to Hill's Grocery rather than to the Red Cross for food.  I get the impression from the lyrics that "Store" is used more in the sense of "storehouse" or "distribution point" than of "a place to purchase goods", as Roland sings that if you don't get to the Red Cross Store early, there won't be any food left: "Say you know they give you something to eat at the Red Cross you have to go get it 'fore eleven".   

[Rivers]

They definitely are a service, albeit not-for-profit, and are part of the backdrop and consciousness of the times. So I think we should include the Red Cross Stores.

[dj]

Automobiles:  Rolls Royce

Virginia Liston, "Rolls Royce Papa", 1926:  "Rolls Royce Papa, this Tin Lizzie Mama is going to tow you in"

This title and lyric has been staring at me all month from the lower right hand corner of this year's Classic Blues Artwork calendar, and I finally took notice.  The song is on the Red Hot Jazz archive, if anyone is interested. 

[Rivers]

Very cool. We finally got a Roller. There's an unsolved placeholder for another 'Rolls Royal' (sic), we still need to nail the artist and song.