Topic: Big Joe and His Washboard Band--I'm Through With You - Lyrics

[gullyjim]

Hi Stuart!
Perhaps it is possible that this expression comes from the First World War, which was still recent at that time and many American soldiers participated in it. The walls of the trenches in eastern France were then consolidated with clay, denser than loose earth.

[Stuart]

Hi gullyjim: Thank you for the info. I wasn't aware of that. It is certainly possible.

I thought about trying to do some etymological detective work, but even using Boolean search techniques with a large text base would only lead us back to the first attested usage (within the contents of the text base) at best. I think we found what we were after re: the song lyrics. It's not that it wouldn't be an interesting endeavor, it's just that I think the time would be better spent on the next lyrical challenge.

[Johnm]

I think the use of "clay" in song lyrics to describe someone being buried dates back to the Parlor Song era of the nineteenth century. I think it was used both because it was easy to rhyme and it sounded more poetic than "dirt".The religious singer Alfred Karnes recorded a song very much in that style called "Do Not Wait 'til I'm Laid Beneath The Clay", which can be found in his lyric thread and in Weeniepedia. Karnes' song gives numerous examples of how easy it is to rhyme to "clay", and it's a pretty common usage.

[Stuart]

Hi John:

After remembering John Hurt's usage I did a quick Google search and several Biblical references came up. I left it there as I didn't have time to pursue it further. I think you're right about the relative ease of rhyme. "Ground" is another word we hear on occasion. But I digress...