tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post6463589899874847522..comments2024-03-28T07:58:41.643-04:00Comments on pancocojams: What "Turn Your Damper Down" & "Turn Your Lamp Down Low" MeanAzizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-39403632257389711242023-10-24T08:18:47.140-04:002023-10-24T08:18:47.140-04:00Anonymous, thanks for sharing this information. I ...Anonymous, thanks for sharing this information. I appreciate it. Ihear what you said and I also believe that the "handyman" term has sexually innuendos in some African American songs such as in Alberta Hunter's song and in Jimmy Jones' 1960 R&B song "I'm Your Handyman".Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-49781892353750164372023-10-24T02:36:11.206-04:002023-10-24T02:36:11.206-04:00In Alberta Hunter’s “ Handy Man” song from the 192...In Alberta Hunter’s “ Handy Man” song from the 1920s she was singing that her man was a real handyman who could tune her fiddle, grease her griddle, and turn her damper down, as well many other things with clear sexual innuendos. It was likely a well-known expression at that time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-80190165316574782402020-01-01T08:12:50.809-05:002020-01-01T08:12:50.809-05:00Thanks for your comment, Joe Flood.
I'm not f...Thanks for your comment, Joe Flood.<br /><br />I'm not familiar with the old English song "Blow The Candles Out". There's a number of YouTube sound files of songs with that title. <br /><br />Thanks for introducing some of us to the these songs.<br /><br />Happy New Year!Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-27880215171081320172020-01-01T04:29:19.988-05:002020-01-01T04:29:19.988-05:00The sentiments of "Statesboro Blues" rat...The sentiments of "Statesboro Blues" rather remind me of the old English song "Blow the Candles Out". I think its pretty clear from the rest of the verse that he's sneaking in for a midnight tryst and doesnt want to wake parents/neighbours - so no alternative interpretation necessary. But the whole poetic feeling of the verse is something like "smoulder for me baby" so there is an undercurrent.<br /><br />I do not think this phrase should be confused with "damper down", "jelly roll" etc which are overtly sexual terms. Joe Floodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14684083205595693107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-39860974370839328642016-10-17T21:18:15.675-04:002016-10-17T21:18:15.675-04:00Greetings, Anonymous.
Thanks for sharing your int...Greetings, Anonymous.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your interpretation of "Statesboro Blues".<br /><br />I suppose "turn your lamp down low" had and still can have more than one meaning.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-74228756030007678072016-10-17T19:09:45.497-04:002016-10-17T19:09:45.497-04:00In Statesboro Blues she is sleeping and he asks he...In Statesboro Blues she is sleeping and he asks her to wake up and turn her lamp down low. That sounds like a woman home, secure, and not out brightly playing around. He wants in. Not just sex, he wants her security, her home. He wants her to chill out and let him back.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-74432319190746897802016-03-02T23:21:02.975-05:002016-03-02T23:21:02.975-05:00joeflood, I agree that I'm "too prissy fo...joeflood, I agree that I'm "too prissy for [certain] words". That's partly because I am who I am. In my role as editor of this blog, my prissiness is also partly because I would like material in this blog to be used as supplemental resources in public schools and other public centers for undergraduate age students...And those institutions are also "prissy".<br /><br />However, you're probably right about the meanings of these terms and I therefore thank you for your comments.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-70206586763188033302016-03-02T20:40:23.461-05:002016-03-02T20:40:23.461-05:00Too prissy for words. Next you'll be telling u...Too prissy for words. Next you'll be telling us that Robert Johnson's immortal line "You can squeeze my lemons till the juice run down my leg" (an unlikely sexual act) refers to the Southern practice of making lemonade in hotter weather.joefloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09310642859676133308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-61052319961460941232016-03-02T20:32:26.480-05:002016-03-02T20:32:26.480-05:00Should have mentioned - it's because of the si...Should have mentioned - it's because of the similarity between a kerosene lamp wick opening and a vulva<br />joefloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09310642859676133308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-57139543293608004102016-03-02T20:25:05.133-05:002016-03-02T20:25:05.133-05:00Hm "Stateboro Blues "Wake up Mama, turn ...Hm "Stateboro Blues "Wake up Mama, turn your lamp down low." Slightly different meaning, some sort of tryst.<br /><br />However most of the above is much too polite. <br />"Jelly Roll Baker"<br />"He's the jelly roll baker, and he bake the best jelly roll in town<br />He's the only man can bake jelly with his damper down"<br /><br />"Damper down" as in this song, patently a sexual reference. For women I have always taken it to mean opening the labia and/or squeezing like a wick damper, for men something to do with the foreskin<br />joefloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09310642859676133308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-39675202796774000832013-12-24T09:13:41.791-05:002013-12-24T09:13:41.791-05:00Google search just reminded me of a comment that I...Google search just reminded me of a comment that I wrote in 2005 on the Mudcat folk music forum that quotes this 1925 example of "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall":<br /> <br />SWEET MAMA<br />Sweet Mama, treetop tall,<br />Won't you turn your damper down?* <br />I smell hoecake burning<br />Dey done burnt some brown.<br />I'm laid mah head <br />On de rilroad track.<br />I thought about Mama<br />An' I drugged it back.<br />Sweet Mama, treetop tall,<br />Won't you turn your damper down?<br /><br /> *BTW, Scarborough writes " Sweet Mama is a term addressed to a lover, not a maternal parent, and the oblique reference to a damper doubtless comments on the dark lady's warm temper.<i>On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs"</i> edited by Dorothy Scarborough gives this description (Folklore Associates edition, 1963, originally published in 1925 ,p.242) Note that I incorrectly typed 262 in that comment that is posted to this Mudcat thread: <a href="http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=79013" rel="nofollow">http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=79013</a>Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com