Here's some music my friend Mary Love requested... I'll be uploading anything anyone requests for their downloading pleasure.
Lucille Bogan was one of the first blues artists to record. Her music is most signature for its frank, rique' nature; often dealing with sex, prostitution and lesbianism... much of which often makes her comparable to Bessie Smith. She started recording for Paramount in 1927, where she reached success having a song covered by Blind Blake. During this time she also began recording for Brunswick, where she cut records with Cow Cow Davenport and Tampa Red.
By the 1930's here records were primarily ALL dirty, and often her unissued Banner acetate of "Shave 'Em Dry" can be found on SCORES of dirty blues compilations.
Her birthday was a few days ago (April 1, 1897) and even though it's a few days late, this is the best way to celebrate. I tried to do a blog search, and couldn't find any that featured more than a song or two. So here ya go, for your own personal archive, is the Yazoo compilation "1927-1935", which offers an even split of songs recorded by herself, and solos by her piano accompanist Walter Roland. This set is transfered from some of the rarest (and thus, battered to shit) 78 rpm records... the quality, considering, is pretty damned decent.Lucille Bogan passed away August 10, 1948 in Los Angeles, CA... You can visit her grave at Lincoln Memorial Park in Compton.
As a bonus, in a seperate download, here is her claim to fame, "Shave 'Em Dry" recorded 1935, but not released for the Banner label. If you've never heard it, you're in for a treat... it's one of the most blatant, shocking and obscene records ever recorded from the 78 era. It's had several re-issues, the most common is on the LP 'Copulatin' Blues'. I love her at the 2:10 mark, you can just tell how much fun she's having recording this.Still not enough?
Well then scoot on over to Red Hot Jazz where you can hear nearly her entire discography for free on streaming audio.
Just picked up the 78rpm in the dollar bin at an antique mall. Had no idea what it was, but I was intrigued by the label that was featureless with the exception of a rubber stamped "Shave Me Dry" on one side (yes, it says "Me", not "Em"). The other side, which is totally unmarked, is a non-musical comedy routine between a woman and a man (Bogan & Roland, perhaps?), in which the woman mistakes the man (I.P. Freely) for a doctor, when - in fact - he is a plumber. As a result, their conversation is ripe with double-entendre, including such things as a reference to a hole that needs pluggin'.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if you're not yet familiar with it, you MUST check out Bogan's TILL THE COWS COME HOME. It's even more explicit than SHAVE EM DRY.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdmnxm_lucille-bogan-till-the-cows-come-ho_music
Much love and respect for fans of Lucille, if you are interested in seeing more of her music have a look at The Document Records Store (https://thedocumentrecordsstore.com/product/lucille-bogan/) - thank you.
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