This is a little weird
How?
Weird is ok
Bessie Smith, 1931
Need A Little Sugar in My Bowl
The song is often remembered for its sexually suggestive lyrics, in which Smith pleads with her “hard papa”, saying that she needs “a little sugar, in my bowl, doggone it”. Continuing the double entendre, the song also expresses the need for “a little hot dog between my rolls” and concludes, “Stop your foolin’ and drop somethin’ in my bowl.”[22]
In Johnny Cash’s “Live from Folsom Prison” album there is a song called ‘cocaine blues’. The first verse goes like this:
early one morning while making the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
I went right home and I went to bed
I stuck that loving forty-four beneath my head.
I keep this in my back pocket when conservatives claim that Rap and Hip Hop glorify violence, guns, misogyny, and drug use. I defy you to find something from NAS or Killer Mike that can compete on the level of classic country.
It’s bordering on conspiracy, but there’s an argument to be made that record labels pushed gangster rap and downplayed others to keep black communities down.
I 100% agree with the idea that rap is certainly not the only genre to glorify violence, drugs, etc. But the specific song choice is not really a great example in my opinion considering the last verse is
C’mon you gotta listen unto me lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be.
This song always struck me as a cautionary tale. Nothing about the song really seems to glorify the behavior.
That is true (I love Cash and listened to a lot of his music), but a lot of cons will just take it at face value, same way they do with Punisher.
Btw, Cash has this “shot my woman down” motif in other songs, like Delia’s Gone, and always they end badly, like with him in jail. Too bad the cons only listen to those and skip pieces like San Quentin or Man in Black.
Pusha T has rapped alnost exclusively about selling cocaine for like 30 years at this point. Let’s not act like drug use/dealing isn’t a major theme in a lot of hiphop.
I think the idea here is not to say that hiphop/rap does not talk about or even glorify drug use/violence/misoginy, but rather that most popular music styles do, in this specific case classic country.
Using 2 of the most lyrically gifted rappers is cheating. WAP exists.
doesn’t matter, because it’s a disingenuous post anyways. the song is about how that shit is BAD:
Early one morning while making the rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down Went right home and I went to bed I stuck that loving 44 beneath my head
Got up next morning and I grabbed that gun Took a shot of cocaine and away I run Made a good run but run too slow They overtook me down in Juarez, Mexico
Laid in the hot joints taking the pill In walked the sheriff from Jericho Hill He said Willie Lee, your name is not Jack Brown You’re the dirty hop that shot your woman down
I said yes sir, my name is Willie Lee If you got a warrant, just read it to me Shot her down because she made me sorе I thought I was her daddy but she had five morе
When I was arrested I was dressed in black They put me on train and it took me back I had no friends for to go my bail They slapped my dried up carcass in that county jail
Got up next morning about a half past nine Spied a sheriff coming down the line Hopped and he coughed as he cleared his throat He said, come on you dirty hop into that district court See country shows near Lewiston Get tickets as low as $54 You might also like Folsom Prison Blues Johnny Cash Cocaine Blues Billy Strings & Don Julin loml Taylor Swift Into the courtroom, my trial began Where I was handled by twelve honest men Just before that jury started out I saw that little judge commence to look about
In about five minutes, in walked a man Holding the verdict in his right hand The verdict read in the first degree I hollered, lordy lordy, have mercy on me
The judge he smiled as he picked up his pen Ninety-nine years in the Folsom pen Ninety-nine years underneath that ground I can’t forget the day I shot my woman down
Come on you hops and listen unto me Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be
My favourite part of that song is when he goes “You might also like Folsom Prison Blues Johnny Cash Cocaine Blues Billy Strings & Don Julin loml Taylor Swift”, truly a banger
yeah, right before he yells “shoutout yall!” and does that heart thing with his hands. true hardcore johnny cash right there
(i’m still laughing that you caught that so quickly)
You might also like Folsom Prison Blues Johnny Cash Cocaine Blues Billy Strings & Don Julin loml Taylor Swift Into the courtroom, my trial began Where I was handled by twelve honest men Just before that jury started out I saw that little judge commence to look about
I was skimming your comment and this part look exactly like some autogenerated SEO bullshit.
The issue is markdown - to get a proper new line, you need to put two spaces a the end. Alternatively you can just press enter twice, but that obviously creates double spacing, which comes with its own readability issues. And the last solution would be to put all the lyrics into a code block, but that’s pretty excessive.
I was skimming your comment and this part look exactly like some autogenerated SEO bullshit.
My assumption was they copied and pasted from a lyrics website without checking and got a mid page ad in the process.
that’s exactly what happened. i replied to someone else about it, but i guess i didn’t explicitly say that’s why i thought it was funny.
1969 Salsa classic - JIMMY SABATER, SALCHICHAS CON HUEVOS
All about giving some woman “sausage with eggs”.
Momma has a squeezebox daddy don’t sleep at night
In grade school music class they had us sing “someone’s in the kitchen with Dina strumming on the ol’ banjo” and “jump down turn around pick a bale of cotton”
But how much does classic rock really have if you remove all of the sexualization of children?
More than you’d expect I imagine. Lots of blues.
Aerosmith is outright gone (probably for the best. They cant make it through a single song without talking about it)
Aerosmith isn’t classic . . . goddammit.
Genesis’ Carpet Crawlers (lyrics) wants a word.
One of the most graphically sexual songs I’ve ever heard. The only other contender is literally about pet play.
Edit: the Carpet Crawlers are literally sperm. People never believe me until I start breaking it down, and then they’re like, “holy fuck, how did they get away with this?”
The only other contender is literally about pet play.
I need more music like this, about this. 😮
You should check out the Liza and Louise songs by NOFX lol
considering peter gabriel’s other stuff idk if that’s the correct interpretation.
Considering the previous song on the album was painfully obviously about sex, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a rock opera…
i mean it may tie in, but it doesn’t fit with the track after if it just continues the metaphor.
godzilla.jpg
FWIW classic rock often wasn’t just about sex - it was about sex with 14-year-old girls. And often the same 14-year-old girl.
Nothing, however, can possibly top Steven Tyler of Aerosmith becoming the legal guardian of the underage girl he was fucking so he could bring her on tour with him.
Wasn’t that Ted Nugent?
I dunno, maybe Nugent did it, too. He’s not exactly an original.
…said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind literally is about meth and falling asleep inside a chick, but we all liked it cause it went 🎶do do doo
Edit: sorry, its also about cocaine
Ok wow that song is NOT subtle about it either now that I’m actually looking up the lyrics
I have trouble understanding lyrics at the best of times and simply embraced the idea that ignorance is bliss
it was also a banger, soooo
True true
Just crazy that that’s one of the first songs I can remember playing on the radio and finding out much later what its about haha
I read Classic Rock as Christian Rock at first, which would still track.
