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Country Blues => Country Blues Lyrics => Topic started by: Johnm on June 09, 2016, 07:24:24 PM
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Hi all,
Every once in a while, you'll hear someone use a word in a blues lyric and you'll think, "Wow, I've never heard anyone sing that word in a blues before!". I got to thinking that it might be fun to collect a few words that we suspect were only sung once in recorded blues, and list them in this thread, along with the musicians who sang them and the songs in which they appeared. Just to get the ball rolling, here are a couple of examples:
* "doleful"--In "Sundown Blues", Alec Johnson sang:
When shadows spread that dreary hue around
From afar I hear a doleful sound
My soul just weeps when the evening sun goes down
I first remarked on that lyric close to fifty years ago, and I've never heard any other blues singer use the word "doleful" in a lyric in all that time.
* "chifferobe"--A chifferobe is a sort of free-standing closet or dresser, Characteristically, one side has space for hanging clothes and the other side has drawers, and you open up facing doors to get to the two sides. Last week, in the "What is this musician doing?" thread, I noticed Brownsville Son Bonds singing in the last verse of "80 Highway Blues":
Yes, and if you get in trouble, call down to Clubhouse 45
Yes, if you get in trouble, call down to Clubhouse 45
Baby, and now you just open up my chifferobe, and you'll see where my dollar lies
Evidently, Son Bonds kept his money in his chifferobe. NOTE: "Chifferobe" does not qualify as a word used only once in blues lyrics, since Charley Jordan used the word four years prior to Brownsville Son Bonds, in his "Chifferobe", as per Al Young's comment below in the thread.
* "shan't"--I remember banjochris commenting on Ishmon Bracey's use of the word "shan't" in the mis-titled "Four Day Blues":
Worried now, mama, and I can't be worried long
Worried now, mama, and I shan't be worried long
Mama, 'fore I'd be treated, be on the county farm
Can any of you folks think of other words you've only heard used once in blues lyrics?
All best,
Johnm
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A lot of strange words in Sylvester Weaver songs. Tapeworm, Pitchfork, Nitroglycerine, Polecat.
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"Consulate" my mind ???
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Sorry, but "chifferobe" doesn't pass the one-off test -- see also Charley Jordan's "Chifferobe". Recorded March 29, 1937 (more than three years before Son Bonds' chifferobe) and issued as by Uncle Skipper.
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Thanks for the catch, Al! It shows that this is a good place to be doing this. If a proposed word appeared someplace else in blues lyrics, there's a good chance that somebody around here will know it, and can say where else the word appeared. I'll amend my original post to indicate that "chifferobe" does not qualify. Thanks!
All best,
Johnm
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How about that mystery word "follybug" or whatever it was in the last verse of Lemon's "Black Snake Moan No. 2"?
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It shows that this is a good place to be doing this. If a proposed word appeared someplace else in blues lyrics, there's a good chance that somebody around here will know it, and can say where else the word appeared.
If you think of a word and want to confirm that it only shows up one time, Weeniepedia has a good search function for the lyrics page.
I just used it to see if "stroller" (used to describe one's main squeeze) shows up in any other song besides Mean Conductor Blues.
It does--in Mamlish Blues, also by Ed Bell. No other hits for the term.
Of course, "mamlish" is in a class all by itself.
("My stroller caught the passenger, I caught the mamlish blind"; I can picture some poor student trying to learn English asking a teacher what that sentence means.)
Lindy
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'Temporary', so far as I can recall, only appears in Mance's cover of 'It's a Long Way To Tipperary'. Probably misheard, accidentally profound:
'It's a long way to temporary, the sweetest place I know'
Usual caveat, there are probably other uses of it but I can't think of any.
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How about Tommy Johnson using "acknowledge" in the final line of "Lonesome Home Blues":
I'm going to acknowledge, pretty baby, that I treat you mean.
Robert Johnson lyrics would be a good place to mine for one-off words. Steve LaVere remarked that Johnson must have spent a lot of his childhood with grandparents; he used a lot of archaic terms in his songs (such as "consolate," which Jones noted above but spelled like a different word).
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"Consulate" my mind ???
Whoops! Consolate
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Anyone know another use of "hammock" in any song besides the mistitled "Hammer Blues" by Patton.
And whether you believe he sings "bastard" or "dastard", Charley's use in Down the Dirt Road Blues might be unique.
Of course, this brings up Michael Taft's Concordance of Blues Lyrics, which is unfortunately not very comprehensive, but could rule out some words if he has two instances. He has tons of words which, at least in the songs he has included, only have one instance, including "hammock". You can find a link under the Links section of Weeniepedia, but the site is not very intuitive, nor easy to navigate once you figure it out.
Wax
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Acknowledge pops up in a lot of blues lyrics, mostly as "acknowledge I've done wrong" or the like. We had a discussion about it a few years ago that got a bit heated! Sleepy John, for instance, sings it in Mary, Come On Home.
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How 'bout Lemon's use of "commentating" in "Dry Southern Blues"?
Wax
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Hi all,
Peg Leg Howell used "acknowledge" in "Please, Ma'am". Barbecue Bob used polecat in "Black Skunk Blues".
All best,
Johnm
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How 'bout Lemon's use of "commentating" in "Dry Southern Blues"?
Wax
I think you're safe there!
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Hi all,
I think I might have a couple.
* "contemptible". In "Rounder's Lament", Winston Holmes concludes his opening recitation by observing,
"What a low, contemptible rounder I have been!"
* "disobedient". In "Low Down Rounder's Blues", Peg Leg Howell sings,
"Since I been so disobed'ent, I must travel in disgrace"
All best,
John
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Just came up with a possibility, after a lot of thinking:
In "Downhearted Blues" and one other track that I can't recall, Son House waxes rather poetically, thusly:
Love, Love is a worried ol' heart disease
Looks like the very one you be lovin' is so confound hard to please
Like I said, I think he uses it in another track on the same collection (Father of the Delta Blues), which is essentially the same song, but its the only use of that word that I can recall. Would that still count? :)
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Hi all,
How about this one from Papa Charlie Jackson?
* "tse-tse". In "Jungle Man Blues", Papa Charlie sang,
I make a tse-tse catch a freight train, make a flea grab the mail
I make a tse-tse catch a freight train, I make a flea grab the mail
I make a jumbo elephant grab an aeroplane and sail
All best,
Johnm
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How about "capable" from Henry Townsend's "Sick With the Blues"?
People, I've tried every doctor, every doctor in my neighborhood,
Yes, I've tried every doctor, every doctor in my neighborhood,
But I haven't even found nary a doctor, capable of doing my blues any good.
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"Digest," as a verb.
When you're out late at night, I just can't rest.
Even the food I eat, you know I can't digest.
Because night time,
Is the right time,
To be with the one you love.
Mance Lipscomb
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Hi all,
How about "glands", as in Sara Martin's "Useless Blues":
So if you want to come back, papa, you've got to get some monkey glands
If you want to come back, you got to get some monkey glands
'Cause I don't want no cripple man hanging on my hands
All best,
Johnm
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Glands pops up in the same context in Big Bill's "Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down" but that may be it.
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A little background...
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/06/17/monkey-glands-for-everyone/
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How about 'typewriter' as in Wiliie "61" Blackwell's 'Machine Gun Blues. Can't think of it appearing elsewhere and am unsure what's doing in this song..."I feel like snapping my typewriter in your face". Am I missing something was a typewriter a type of pistol or something?
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Looks like it was slang for a machine gun. One source has "Chicago Typewriter" as slang for a Thompson submachine gun. My guess is that the sound of a manual typewriter inspired the name, along with the use of the Tommy gun by criminal gangs in Chicago during the 20s and 30s.
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"pig iron" and "blast furnace" appear in Blake?s Steel Mill Blues, and FWIK, nowhere else in the genre :)
While trying to learn this song a bit, I researched a bit into the matter of melting steel - before I thought these words were "big eye" and "glass cutter".
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"Pig iron" is found in Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line".
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My first job was in the steel works here in the UK. If Blake wasn?t blind already then he certainly would have been after looking into the blast furnaces!
David
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How about when Leadbelly goes "KAYA AY WOAH GEE BACK UP" in Woah, Buck haha.. Not real words, although I just love hearing Leadbelly say it
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Going out on a limb, but Leadbelly talking about Hollywood in "4, 5, and 9" is probably the one and only. Id classify it as a blues as the story goes Leadbelly went to Hollywood to get in the western movie business and some big wig told him to call him between four, five, and nine. Apparently this is a joke meaning basically "in your dreams".
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Charley Jordan - Soft serve ice cream lol
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I reckon that is "saucer of ice cream", Stu.
All best,
Johnm
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Love, Love is a worried ol' heart disease
Looks like the very one you be lovin' is so confound hard to please
Like I said, I think he uses it in another track on the same collection (Father of the Delta Blues), which is essentially the same song, but its the only use of that word that I can recall. Would that still count? :)
I'd count it but for the appearance in Frank Stokes' Chicken, You Can Roost Behind The Moon (Confound you now)
and also in Papa Charlie Jackson' Salty Dog:
Now who in the ham and the confound nation
EDIT unfortunately Balloon also appears in Rabbit Brown's Same Bee Sting you Twice :(
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Drayman in Clifford Gibson's Drayman Blues?
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Speaking about Leadbelly, "Bourgeois" comes to mind, in his "Beourgeois Blues", but perhaps that's too obvious?
Cheers
Pan
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Tuberculosis in Lead Belly's TB Blues
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Hi all,
How about "'vestigating", as in Emery Glen's "Back Door Blues"?
I got up this morning, 'vestigating on my mind
Well, I got up this morning, 'vestigating on my mind
I wanted to see if mama was the right kind
And "valise", from Frank Stokes in "Half Cup of Tea", pronounced "vay-liss", with the accent on the first syllable.
I'm gon' grab my valise, I'm goin' away from home
I'm gonna grab my valise, I'm goin' 'way from home
You don't like my treatment, you sure can leave me 'lone
All best,
Johnm
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From Michael Taft?s concordance there are 2449 words that only appear once. (There are for sure some errors, but not too many).The Concordance is here:
http://www.dylan61.se/taft.htm
BUT as someone have noted it is not working as of today. I will try to fix it soon.
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What's the fun of picking them up all at once?
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Well, it depends on what you use the concordance for. There are some people that are writing a thesis using among other things the concordance.
BTW the concordance works fine using Firefox.
http://www.dylan61.se/taft.htm
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It is certainly a mistake to use anything but academic journal published material, without a good deal of further corroboration, in writing a thesis. I particularly wouldn't uses someone's online pet project that hardly claims to be truly comprehensive nor academic, without checking each cited reference personally. This is particularly a problem with the country blues, where apparently whole theories are based on the inebriated utterances of elderly men decades after the fact, often dredged up by leading questions on the part of the interviewer. Something like that needs comprehensive corroboration, for which modern internet bloggers have seemingly little time or inclination.
No one said writing a thesis is supposed to be easy.
Wax
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BTW to the original poster, who is new around here and apparently does not realize it, we've been aware of Taft's concordance index for years. People have referred to it many times in posts on weenie going back to the beginning of the board, even before that, when it was an email listserv.
The spirit of this thread, as I interpret it, is to elicit some in-depth and/or entertaining discussion of rare words in their own context. Studying a list of all of them would be a one post thread, with no discussion or depth.
Taft's site works OK with Chrome. I don't bother with other browsers, except when testing web dev.
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The reason acknowledge is such a common word in blues lyrics is explained by Big Bill in I Believe I'll Go Back Home
I believe, I believe : babe, I believe I'll go back home
Well I'm going back to me mother : and acknowledge that I have done wrong
The prodigal son went home : I believe I'll do the same
I did not have to run away : that's why I know I'm not ashamed
It's common trope for the singer to echo the words of the prodigal son ? including the word acknowledge. Another example is Kokomo Arnold's Sissy Man Blues;
I believe : I believe I'll go back home
Lord acknowledge to my good gal mama : Lord that I have done you wrong
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There's direct confirmation of the meaning of typewriter in Sunnyland Slim's Johnson Machine Gun
I'm going to buy me a Johnson 'chine gun : and a carload of exploding balls
I'm going to be a walking cycloon baby : from Saginaw to the Niagra' Falls
Go bring me my typewriter : and a whole round belt of balls
I'm going to free my no good woman : she's in the state penitentiary walls
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That's a great lyric, David!
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Hi all,
I reckon Sunnyland Slim got the lyric from Willie Blackwell's "Machine Gun Blues".
All best,
Johnm
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Hi all,
I reckon Sunnyland Slim got the lyric from Willie Blackwell's "Machine Gun Blues".
And then Baby Boy Warren went and used them for his "Baby Boy Blues."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35hJM2taXRk
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Hi all,
I reckon Sunnyland Slim got the lyric from Willie Blackwell's "Machine Gun Blues".
And then Baby Boy Warren went and used them for his "Baby Boy Blues."
Nice find!
Although it's a proper name, I bet "Campanella" is a rarely used in Blues lyric.
Love the baseball references. I easily heard Jackie Robinson, perked up at Campanella, had to listen a couple times to get (mostly) clear what he is singing.
Bring me my machine gun, bring me two or three belts of balls
(repeat)
I want to go and free my baby, from behind the penitentiary walls
All the women call me Jackie Robinson, I don't even hold second base
Why the women call me Jackie Robinson, I don't even hold second base
But the people catch like Campanella, I pitch just like old Satchel Paige
I want to be a prize fighter, box just like old Sugar Ray
(repeat)
But my baby she knocked me out this morning, and I sold my boxing gloves away
Can't sleep for dreaming, and I just can't stay [??] for crying
(repeat)
Ever since my baby walked off and left me, I just can't get her off my mind
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Hi all,
How about K. C. Douglas's use of "dandruff" in "Make Your Coffee"?
You know, I'll make your coffee, bring it to your bed
Says, I'll make your coffee, honey, and bring it to your bed
You know, I'll take my comb, honey, and scratch dandruff from your head
All best,
Johnm
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"Disco" in Jessie Mae Hemphill's "Jump Baby Jump"??
"Do the disco, baby, do the disco baby."
Man, I love that woman so-o-o much I just want to dig her up and marry her.
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Hey all,
How about Willie Brown's use of "ambitious" in "M&O Blues" fourth verse.
"I started to kill my woman till she laid down 'cross the bed
I started to kill my woman till? laid down 'cross the bed
And she looked so ambitious till I took back everything I said"
Also, maybe "deceitful" (pronounce 'ceitful) in the seventh verse of Charley Patton's "Jim Lee-Part 1"
"I lay my head in a 'ceitful woman's arms
And she laid her nappy head in mine"
Listening to it, maybe "plumb" in third the verse of same song.
"I'm a poor ol' boy and a long ways from home
And you causin' me to leave my plumb good home"
"bouncer(?)" in the sixth verse.
"I got a kid on the wheeler got a bouncer on the plow
Got a plowin'(plumb?) good man bringin' down the (?) (?)"
And "sandbar" in the tenth and final verse.
"Well that big Jim Lee keep-a backin' up and down
He's sandbar stuck man he's gettin' water bound"
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Also, maybe "deceitful" (pronounce 'ceitful) in the seventh verse of Charley Patton's "Jim Lee-Part 1"
"I lay my head in a 'ceitful woman's arms
And she laid her nappy head in mine"
Blind Lemon recorded a "Deceitful Brownskin Blues" -- it pops up occasionally.
Chris
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StuNasty, I think you got it right with "soft-serve ice cream"! Brilliant!
Here's another: "goo loo loo" in Willie McTell's "It's a Good Little Thing." Ch.
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Hi all,
It is definitely not "soft serve ice cream" in "Keep It Clean". According to various sources available via Google, soft serve ice cream was introduced in the mid-'30s, years after Charley Jordan recorded "Keep It Clean". The correct lyric is "saucer of ice cream".
All best,
Johnm
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Hi all,
How about "personnel", in Gabriel Brown's "I'm Gonna Take It Easy":
Now, what your bosses are doing, you can never tell
They's always tryin' to cut the personnel
Now, I'm gonna take it easy, I'm gonna take it easy
I'm gonna take it easy, babe, that's what I'm gonna do
or "attainments" in Gabriel Brown's "Got No Money Blues":
I work too hard, baby, that's why I look so beat
I work too hard, baby, that's why I look so beat
I strain every nerve in my attainments, tryin' to make my poor ends meet
All best,
Johnm
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Hi all,
How about "substantial", as in Willie "61" Blackwell's "Noiseless Motor Blues"?
They say you has a noiseless motor and substantial steering gear
They say you has a noiseless motor, baby, and substantial steering gear
If you ever need a chauffeur, please let me be your engineer
All best,
Johnm
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"Assigned" in Bo Carter's "Baby How Can It Be." If we're counting proper nouns, that same song includes "Grafonola."
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Hi all,
How about "viaduct" in Boodle-De-Bum Blues" by Bogus Ben Covington?
All best,
Johnm
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Junior Tamplin - Under The Viaduct
https://youtu.be/HFSfgNEHA2o
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I thought of this thread while noodling with Lil' Son Jackson's "Gambler's Blues" this morning:
You know I'm through with gamblin', some jack stropper can have my room,
You know I'm through with gamblin', some jack stropper can have my room,
Pretty women may kill me, but gamblin' won't be my doom.
Lindy
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Lightnin' Hopkins recorded Jackstropper Blues at least twice, once for Gold Star and once for Prestige/Bluesville.
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Makes sense, doesn't it -- Lightnin' and Lil' Son Jackson both recorded for Gold Star, and somewhere in my memory is someone's comment that they lived close to each other before Jackson moved from Houston to Dallas. Correct me if wrong.
L
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Hi all,
I think I might have a couple. The first is "'vestigating", as used by Emery Glen in his "Back Door Blues":
I got up this morning, 'vestigating on my mind
Well, I got up this morning, 'vestigating on my mind
I wanted to see if mama was the right kind
The second if from Willie "61" Blackwell and his "Rampaw Street Blues". The word is "organization".
If I only belonged to some secret organization, and was wealthy in degrees
If I only belonged to some organization, and was way up in degrees
I know some vehicle driver, boys, would have some mercy on me
Anybody know of other instances of either of those words appearing in blues lyrics?
All best,
Johnm
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Bessie Tucker recorded a Jack Stropper Blues well before Lightnin or later artists.
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This led me to look up the meaning of Jack Stropper.
JohnM said this in 2003:
https://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=135.msg697#msg697
But Stephen Calt lists it in his Barrel House Words, A Blues Dialect Dictionary, as "someone who's trying to steal your woman"
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Hi all,
I was wondering if "strychnine" appeared in any lyrics other than Furry Lewis's "Big Chief Blues".
All best,
Johnm
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It's not a blues, but in Joe Taggart's "Religion Is Something Within You" he uses the word "perpendicular". I can't imagine it showing up anywhere else.