Dictionary of Jug Band Idioms

(What follows is an excerpt from the dictionary portion of The Jug Band Dictionary and Companion©. The Jug Band Dictionary and Companion© is a work in progress by FEDERAL CIGAR JUG BAND bass player/juggist, Bill Boslaugh – the completed work is expected sometime in the (not too?) distant future.

Stay tuned to this site for quarterly updates to the Dictionary. Next scheduled update: July, 2004 – the letters D/E/F&G).

Introduction

At times – whether listening to, playing or singing the lyrics, those of us who love jug band music may have felt like strangers in our own land. This dictionary is an effort to allay that feeling and to define and illuminate some of the now-obscure terms and phrases that appear in the classic jug band recordings.

It is well over 70 years since the heyday of groups such as Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Birmingham Jug Band and the Memphis Jug Band and most of those who participated in the music have passed. If an effort to better understand the music is not made now, by those of us invested in the music, then when?

We are fortunate in this endeavor to have at our disposal a huge fund of resource materials, including; the songs themselves – all available on CD for the first time ever, volumes of printed research – much of it new and some of it from researchers who have been working in the field for well over forty years and some from musicologists who knew the last of the classic jug band performers.

Also favoring this project… over the last ten years there has been the dual phenomena of 1) a resurgence of interest in American roots music and 2) the rising to prominence of the home computer. With the internet as a research tool (and as an aid in networking with like-minded acolytes), the desktop can serve as a platform to publish our findings as we listen to the music. Now how good is that?

While jug band music of the classic era (1920’s and 30’s) was an almost wholly African-American endeavor and some of these terms were exclusive to that population. However, many, if not most of the terms in this work were in common usage across racial lines within the given economic and/or geographic setting. Whatever their genesis, the entries which follow are words or terms which are – generally speaking – no longer in common use or may have altered meanings in context or may describe geographic locations unfamiliar to most listeners.

We trust that the fans of jug band music and the readers of this modest effort will be liberal in their feedback and will not hesitate to point out flaws, expand on definitions and aid the project as they are able.

Bill Boslaugh
Federal Cigar Jug Band

Jug Band Dictionary
(featuring the letters)A/B/C

TERM/PHRASE: amen corner
CONTEXT: Sisters in the amen corner singin', "let's go round and round".
DEFINITION: The front seats to the left or right of the pulpit in an African-American church. So-called for the frequent choruses of “amen” in response to the sermon.
SONG/SOURCE: Round And Round -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Aunt Caroline Dyer
CONTEXT: I'm goin' to Newport News, just to see Aunt Caroline Dyer.
DEFINITION: Just as the lyric says: "She's a fortune tellin' woman..." Caroline Dye was an actual historical person. Lived in Newport, Arkansas – not Newport News, VA according to blues scholar Dave Evans.
SONG/SOURCE: Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: ball
CONTEXT: Right down here on the corner now, we're startin' a ball.
DEFINITION: good time, dance.
SONG/SOURCE: Madison Street Rag – Cannon’s Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: barred
CONTEXT: Your bad woman's got me barred.
DEFINITION: Obstructed, blocked, kept from meeting goal.
SONG/SOURCE: You're Gonna Need My Help -- Clifford Hayes' Louisville Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: bed-spring poker
CONTEXT: They do the bed spring-poker, you sure done lost your home.
DEFINITION: Punning euphemism for sex act.
SONG/SOURCE: Country Woman -- Jack Kelly's South Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: black (the wearing of…)
CONTEXT: Now when your good girl leaves you, papa don't wear no black.
DEFINITION: Dressing in black is done to denote a time of grief. Indicates in this case that the absence of the woman in question probably isn’t worth grieving over.
SONG/SOURCE: Jazz Baby -- Whistler and his Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: black crepe
CONTEXT: When I leave this town, don't put black crepe on my door.
DEFINITION: Black crepe on a door signifies that someone in the house has died – in this case… “don’t grieve for me – I haven’t died – I’m just not coming back.”
SONG/SOURCE: Jazz Baby -- Whistler and his Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: blinds
CONTEXT: And I asked the conductor, for to let me ride his blinds.
DEFINITION: The space between railroad cars where one may hobo or hitch a free ride while hiding from the railroad authorities.
SONG/SOURCE: Bob Lee Junior Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: blowed, blows
CONTEXT: I thought I heard that K.C. when she blowed, she blows like my woman's on board.
DEFINITION: The sound of a railroad engine's steam whistle. Evocative, and eliciting feelings of loss or loneliness.
SONG/SOURCE: K.C. Moan -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: blowed
CONTEXT: Some gal that blowed in Memphis, and she's too tight.
DEFINITION: New in town, just showed up. "Blew in with the wind".
SONG/SOURCE: Everybody's Talking 'Bout Sadie Green -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: blue devil
CONTEXT: Blue Devil Blues (song title)
DEFINITION: The blue devils is an earlier term for the (emotion of the) blues, thought to be the original form.
SONG/SOURCE: Blue Devil Blues -- Sara Martin & her Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: bob (bobbed)
CONTEXT: They're going to make the skirts catch up with the bob hair.
DEFINITION: Hair cut short, close to the head. A style popular in the 1920’s with young women… vamps and flappers.
SONG/SOURCE: House Rent Rag -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: Bob Lee Junior
CONTEXT: If my good man holler, like Bob Lee Junior does...
DEFINITION: One of the Mississippi River boats in the Lee Line. The boats were named for the children of the steamship line owner, Bob Lee. In this case, the singer’s boyfriend is indicated to have a loud, mournful holler.
SONG/SOURCE: Bob Lee Junior Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: bones
CONTEXT: I'm gonna leave all bones alone.
DEFINITION: Dice, originally made from animal bone or ivory.
SONG/SOURCE: When I Stopped Running I Was At Home -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: Booker T.
CONTEXT: Now Booker T., he left Tuskegee, to the White House he went one day.
DEFINITION: Booker Taliaferro Washington was the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1881 he founded Tuskegee Institute, in the Black Belt of Alabama. This verse references an actual event... Mr. Washington was invited to the White House in 1901 as the dinner guest of President Theodore Roosevelt -- becoming the first African American so honored.
SONG/SOURCE: Can You Blame The Colored Man? -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: bottle it up and go
CONTEXT: When you come tonight your mama'll pack your trunk. We got to bottle  it up and go.
DEFINITION: Leave, make a change, stop talking (or drinking) and hit the road. (virtually interchangeable with similar lyrics, eg. step it up and go, shake it up and go or stop it up and go).
SONG/SOURCE: Bottle It Up And Go -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: box-back suit
CONTEXT: Wear my box-back suit and drink my pint of corn.
DEFINITION: A style of men's suit, a somewhat dated fashion when the MJB recorded this song in 1930. Louis Armstrong recounted that in 1922, when he stepped off the train in Chicago after being summoned North by King Oliver and looking out of place: "I never seen a city that big...  I said, no, this is the wrong city. I was just fixing to go back home — standing there in my box-back suit, padded shoulders, wide-legged pants — when a redcap (who) Joe left word with, came up to me."
SONG/SOURCE: Going Back To Memphis -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: brown
CONTEXT: 'Cause I got me another brown, you better get you someone else.
DEFINITION: A romantic partner, girlfriend or boyfriend. Also used to denote a medium skin tone, somewhere between black and yellow or high-yellow.).
SONG/SOURCE: Papa, Papa Blues -- Sara Martin & her Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: bucket
CONTEXT: I went walkin' right down the street, two good-lookin' girls I had a chance to meet. One had a bucket, the other one had a dime, "come on boys let's have a good time".
DEFINITION: A bucket in which beer was purchased and carried home – an early form of “takeout” (e.g.Washboard Sam's “my bucket's got a hole in it, won't buy no beer”).
SONG/SOURCE: Foldin' Bed -- Whistler And His Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: buggish
CONTEXT: Kid man has got so buggish, great god partner, just can't keep it hid.
DEFINITION: Obstinate, irritated or upset. (See also: "When your woman gets buggish, sometimes she get very hard to rule" Pink Anderson, Every Day In The Week Blues).
SONG/SOURCE: Newport News Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: bumble bee
CONTEXT: He got the best old stinger, any bumble bee that I ever seen.
DEFINITION: Euphemism for a male lover, one with a noteworthy stinger.
SONG/SOURCE: Bumble Bee Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: burg
CONTEXT: I cried: "Jonestown, boys, too small a burg for me.”
DEFINITION: A small town or hamlet, here it assumes a connotation of disdain because of size.
SONG/SOURCE: Jonestown Blues -- Cannon’s Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: buy
CONTEXT: I got 'rested, no money to buy my fine.
DEFINITION: pay, pay off or buy off.
SONG/SOURCE: Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: BVD's
CONTEXT: You buy these fair brown's everything they need. Find the wintertime'll catch you wearin' your BVD's
DEFINITION: Long underwear. BVD stands for "Bradley, Voorhees & Day," the Baltimore firm that initially manufactured the garment. In this case the singer speculates that he will have eventually spent all his resources on his girlfriend and have nothing left but his underwear.
SONG/SOURCE: Burleskin Blues -- Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah

TERM/PHRASE: Cairo
CONTEXT: Cairo Rag (song title)
DEFINITION: City on the Mississippi River in southern Illinois, pronounced Kay-row. Boasting 13,532 souls in 1930.
SONG/SOURCE: Cairo Blues -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: call
CONTEXT: Every time I hear somebody call your name.
DEFINITION: say
SONG/SOURCE: I Never Did Want You -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: called
CONTEXT: Deacon Mose called 'round one day, tried to barrie lard.
DEFINITION: say
SONG/SOURCE: Don't Give All The Lard Away -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: cane brake
CONTEXT: Live down in the country, I've got the cane brake blues. In the cane brake mama, where the gals don't wear no shoes.
DEFINITION: A thicket of cane, any of various tall woody grasses or reeds – generally found growing in wet or swampy ground.
SONG/SOURCE: Cane Break Blues -- Birmingham Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: cannonball
CONTEXT: I'm goin' down to the station, catch that west cannonball.
DEFINITION: Fast passenger train, often refers to a crack train on the Illinois Central Line. On April 30, 1900, John Luther "Casey" Jones and his (black) fireman, Sim Webb, were driving the cannonball express down to Memphis when it wrecked, killing Casey and spawning numerous songs.
SONG/SOURCE: Sunshine Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: car
CONTEXT: I was waiting for a handout... to catch an empty car, the freight train come rolling by, my wait was all in vain.
DEFINITION: train car, usually a boxcar
SONG/SOURCE: Bring It With You When You Come -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: car
CONTEXT: I went out and I caught a car, alone, and I beat it, alone.
DEFINITION: streetcar, in this particular case
SONG/SOURCE: I Never Did Want You -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: carry
CONTEXT: I ain't got nobody, carry my troubles to. I got the blues so bad, I don't know what to do.
DEFINITION: Take, deliver or give to. In this case, share with.
SONG/SOURCE: Jug Band Blues -- Sara Martin & her Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: central
CONTEXT: I cried "hello central, give me your long distance line".
DEFINITION: The local (or regional) telephone operator who manually made the phone connection (before the era of dial & push-button phones).
SONG/SOURCE: Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: Charlie (usually as “Mr. Charlie)
CONTEXT: He's got a knot (in the back like) Mr. Charlie's (feet).
DEFINITION: A white man, generally the boss man.
SONG/SOURCE: What's The Matter -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: chittlin'
CONTEXT: Rukus Juice And Chittlin' (song title)
DEFINITION: Hog bowel or intestines, a traditional food of poorer, especially black, Southern folks. A soul-food staple.
SONG/SOURCE: Rukus Juice And Chittlin' -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: chock full
CONTEXT: Layin' around the little town, your head chock full of rum.
DEFINITION: Totally full, no room for more. In this case denotes being drunk.
SONG/SOURCE: Bring It With You When You Come -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: clown
CONTEXT: I got full of my good whisky, good gal made me clown.
DEFINITION: To act like a fool. (frequent outcome of men drinking whisky around women)
SONG/SOURCE: Jonestown Blues -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: cold in hand
CONTEXT: Ever dreamed you was lucky, woke-up cold in hand?
DEFINITION: Broke, no money, busted, poor.
SONG/SOURCE: Rocking Chair Blues -- Earl McDonald's Orig. Louisville Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Colligan Ave. (or Codigan, or Cardigan or Cottigan or...(phonetic)
CONTEXT: Lord I can stand right here, pardner, and look on Colligan Avenue. Lord I can see every thing that my easy roller do.
DEFINITION: An avenue name referenced by Will Shade in 1927, in Memphis Jug Blues (take 2 only) and again in a 1961 recording of Newport News Blues. At this time the avenue and the town or city of reference is unknown. In-depth searches show no such avenue in Memphis (or any other city) using multiple different spellings.
SONG/SOURCE: Memphis Jug Blues (take 2) -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: coon(s)
CONTEXT: The coons on board done the Turkey Trot.
DEFINITION: Ironic, affectionate or derogatory term for African Americans -- depends who uses it.
SONG/SOURCE: Casey Bill -- Earl McDonald's Orig. Louisville Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: cooncan (coon can)
CONTEXT: The women's in the alley, they are playing cooncan.
DEFINITION: A popular card game during the 1920s and 1930s for two players using 40 cards that is an early version of rummy. An alteration of American Spanish conquián.
SONG/SOURCE: I Can't Stand It -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: corn
CONTEXT: You place a bottle 'a corn in your right hand.
DEFINITION: Bootleg liquor made from fermenting corn.
SONG/SOURCE: Whitewash Station -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Court Square
CONTEXT: Went on 'round about Court Square, found the boy that done stole the coat.
DEFINITION: Court Square is one of the four squares (parks) in the original town plan of Memphis. Borders on Main St., not far from the Peabody Hotel, deep in the heart of Memphis' jug band territory.
SONG/SOURCE: Feather Bed -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: crap game
CONTEXT: One night I went out in a crap game, I seen a man they called Bad Ben. Soon as I heard him knock on the door I knew trouble was gwin'ta begin.
DEFINITION: A popular dice game in the 1920’s and 30’s using two dice in which a first throw of 7 or 11 wins the game.
SONG/SOURCE: When I Stopped Running I Was At Home -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: crooked
CONTEXT: Folks say I'm crooked, I don't know where she took it. I want the whole world to know.
DEFINITION: A euphemism for lesbian.
SONG/SOURCE: Prove It On Me Blues -- Ma Rainey & her Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: cut off
CONTEXT: Mary Anna Cut Off (song title)
DEFINITION: Cut-off usually refers to a road or railroad line which provides a shortcut between two sites. In 1913 a Missouri Pacific rail line was completed between Memphis, TN and Marianna, Arkansas and was apparently known locally as the Marianna cut-off. Currently, Arkansas county road C167 is referred to as the Marianna cut-off. To further muddy the waters: Along rivers, cut-off refers to a new and shorter channel formed when the flooding river cuts a new channel through the neck of an oxbow curve in the river. There are many such cutoffs of the Mississippi River in the area near Marianna, Arkansas, often leaving land-locked lakes.
SONG/SOURCE: Mary Anna Cut Off -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: damper
CONTEXT: Man, I left Lula, goin' to Jonestown. Those Jonestown brown's boy, make you turn your damper down.
DEFINITION: Cool down or back off. A damper restricts airflow and slows
combustion in a fuel burning stove.
SONG/SOURCE: Jonestown Blues-- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: darktown
CONTEXT: The old folks started it, the young folks got it, and everybody's crazy 'bout the darktown strut.
DEFINITION: Pertaining to the region of the community where African-Americans live(d), in this case the African-American version of the 'strut'.
SONG/SOURCE: The Old Folks Started It -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: 'deed
CONTEXT: Love my baby, 'deed I do. I'm almost crazy about you.
DEFINITION: indeed, yes
SONG/SOURCE: Love Blues -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: depot agent
CONTEXT: Mister depot agent, don't tell me no lie.
DEFINITION: Railroad station ticket seller.
SONG/SOURCE: Big Railroad Blues -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: depression
CONTEXT: And I cried, I cried, baby, I cried the whole night through. If this depression don't get no better, I don't know what to do.
DEFINITION: The great depression, beginning in late 1929, through roughly the beginning of World War II. As used in this song it also nicely describes the mental health condition of clinical depression.
SONG/SOURCE: 35 Depression -- Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah

TERM/PHRASE: diamond dust
CONTEXT: I'd polish my teeth with diamond dust, man I don't care if the banks go bust.
DEFINITION: Some FINE toothpaste. In this particular reference, thought-up after smoking "hop".
SONG/SOURCE: My Money Never Runs Out -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: did
CONTEXT: Says, I did for you baby when I needed shoes on my feet.
DEFINITION: To support (financially) or take care of. In this case it implies that the singer did without to provide for his "baby's" needs.
SONG/SOURCE: Sometimes I Think I Love You -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: dirty butter
CONTEXT: She was so drunk, until she could not see -- and it's dirty butter, it's dirty butter. Hear the Bishop talkin', it's dirty butter.
DEFINITION: A bad thing, something wrong.
SONG/SOURCE: Dirty Butter -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: do
CONTEXT: The way you do me makes me tired of you.
DEFINITION: Interact with, mistreat, or treat.
SONG/SOURCE: You Better Leave Me Alone, Sweet Papa -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: do' (doe, dough)
CONTEXT: The Mama, mama, please open up that do'.
DEFINITION: Regional African-American pronunciation of door.
SONG/SOURCE: Prowlin' Wolf Blues -- John Harris & The Louisville Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: dope
CONTEXT: I went to Mr. Lehman's in a lope, saw a sign on the window says no more dope. Hey, hey, honey take a whiff on me.
DEFINITION: In this particular case, cocaine.
SONG/SOURCE: Take A Whiff On Me -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: driving
CONTEXT: I'm tired of you driving me, driving me baby all of the time.
DEFINITION: Pushing too hard or too far, harassing.
SONG/SOURCE: Tired Of You Driving Me -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: drove
CONTEXT: You done drove me baby, until you drove me away.
DEFINITION: Mistreated, made to leave, pushed away, left no option but to force one to leave.
SONG/SOURCE: Taking Your Place -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: ease
CONTEXT: It takes a little coke to give me ease, strut my stuff long as I please.
DEFINITION: Make one or allow one to feel good, high.
SONG/SOURCE: Take A Whiff On Me -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Eastman (easeman, Eastman)
CONTEXT: Lord, a natch'el born eastman, on the road again.
DEFINITION: An Easterner, a rogue not to be trusted. One who makes easy money or
makes his living in crime, not the old fashioned ways of work. A possible connection to the Eastman gang of NYC.
SONG/SOURCE: On The Road Again -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: easy
CONTEXT: If you still can't make it easy, get you a job and go to work.
DEFINITION: Make a living without having to work a job. Often having the connotation of working outside the ‘system’ in a less than legitimate enterprise.
SONG/SOURCE: If You Can't Make It Easy, Sweet Mama -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: easy rider
CONTEXT: Don't you wish your easy rider was little and cute like mine?
DEFINITION: Sexually available woman, girlfriend, lover.
SONG/SOURCE: Memphis Jug Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: easy roller
CONTEXT: Now don't you wish your easy roller, pardner, was little and cute like mine?
DEFINITION: Girlfriend, implies sexually loose and available.
SONG/SOURCE: Memphis Jug Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: eighteen (18)
CONTEXT: They tell me 18 is my car line.
DEFINITION: A streetcar route number or train number on the Hollywood rail line in Memphis.
SONG/SOURCE: Springdale Blues -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: Elm Street
CONTEXT: Now, if you're ever in Dallas, please visit old Elm Street.
DEFINITION: (pronounced Ell-um) The thoroughfare that formed the center of Dallas, Texas, black nightlife from the teens through the 1950s. Also known as "deep Ellum".
SONG/SOURCE: Elm Street Woman Blues -- Dallas Jamboree Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: fair-brown
CONTEXT: You buy these fair-brown's everything they need. Find the wintertime'll catch you wearin' your BVD's
DEFINITION: A good looking or desirable romantic partner.
SONG/SOURCE: Burleskin' Blues -- Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah

TERM/PHRASE: faro (faror, pharaoh)
CONTEXT: And it's oh faro, tell me what's the matter now.
DEFINITION: girlfriend, lover
SONG/SOURCE: Stingy Woman Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: feather bed
CONTEXT: Colored man's a plumb fool about the feather bed.
DEFINITION: A mattress stuffed with feathers, rather than the straw and woodchips of poorer folk.
SONG/SOURCE: Feather Bed -- Cannon's Jug Stompers

TERM/PHRASE: feed your friends with a long handled spoon
CONTEXT: Don't let your 'friends' get too close, where they might be able to hurt you.
DEFINITION: Don't let your 'friends' get too close, where they might be able to hurt you.
SONG/SOURCE: Feed Your Friend With A Long Handled Spoon -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: fetch it with you when you come
CONTEXT: You want to be my man, you got to fetch it with you when you come.
DEFINITION: Generally understood to indicate that the love interest should bring money to compensate for a sexual encounter, but in this particular case it works as well as a demand for equal (sexual) pleasure received for pleasure given.
SONG/SOURCE: Hear Me Talkin' To You -- Ma Rainey & her Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: fiddle
CONTEXT: Aw, fiddle it Will Weldon, fiddle it.
DEFINITION: An exhortation to play an instrument, general. In this case a guitar -- not specific to the violin.
SONG/SOURCE: She Stays Out All Night Long -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: flat
CONTEXT: He thought he'd call on the vampire woman's flat.
DEFINITION: small apartment or room
SONG/SOURCE: The Vamps of '28 -- Whistler and his Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: flip
CONTEXT: Chicago Flip (song title)
DEFINITION: To catch or board a train in motion (hobo usage). Meaning in this particular song title is unclear -- perhaps a style of dance.
SONG/SOURCE: Chicago Flip -- Whistler and his Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Flying Crow
CONTEXT: Now, The Flying Crow left Port Arthur, Texas babe – with a red, blue light behind.
DEFINITION: A passenger train on the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf branch of the Kansas City Southern railroad.
SONG/SOURCE: Flying Crow Blues -- Dallas Jamboree Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: for
CONTEXT: And I asked the conductor, for to let me ride his blinds.
DEFINITION: permission, please
SONG/SOURCE: Bob Lee Junior Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: for
CONTEXT: I can't sleep for dreamin', I can't stay awake at night.
DEFINITION: because
SONG/SOURCE: Bob Lee Junior Blues -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: forty dollar razor
CONTEXT: Had a forty dollar razor, tryin' to shave that knot.
DEFINITION: ???????? obscure, definition yet to be determined
SONG/SOURCE: What's The Matter -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Fourth (4th) Street
CONTEXT: Let's go out here on the corner of 4th and Madison.
DEFINITION: Street in downtown Memphis, perpendicular to Beale.
SONG/SOURCE: Madison Street Rag -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: Frisco
CONTEXT: I guess I'll have to catch the Frisco out, in this land. Catch the Frisco out.
DEFINITION: The St. Louis & San Francisco railroad line.
SONG/SOURCE: Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: gait
CONTEXT: Told my girl, week before last, that the gait she was carrying me was much too fast.
DEFINITION: A manner or rate of movement or progress, often thought of as a style of walking -- not so in this case.
SONG/SOURCE: Tear It Down -- Cincinnati Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Garden Of Joy
CONTEXT: Garden Of Joy (song title)
DEFINITION: 1920's nightclub in NYC (Harlem) on 7th Ave. near 139th St.
SONG/SOURCE: Garden Of Joy Blues -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: give
CONTEXT: I walked 61 highway and I give down in my knees.
DEFINITION: gave out, became weak, collapsed
SONG/SOURCE: Highway No. 61 Blues -- South Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: good stuff
CONTEXT: Just carry your good stuff home, mama, you don't want me to have it all night long.
DEFINITION: Female body, sexual availability. Broader in this particular lyric, "get out of here and go home if you won't have sex with me.
SONG/SOURCE: Carry Your Good Stuff Home -- Cincinnati Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: goo-goo eyes
CONTEXT: Now, could you blame the colored man for making them goo-goo eyes?
DEFINITION: Acting like a fool, overwhelmed, subservient. Stereotypical rolling of the eyes. Goo-goo eyes references Barney Google, a popular comic strip character of the era, known for his ‘bug’ eyes and immortalized in the 1923 song “Barney Google, with his goo-goo-googley eyes.”
SONG/SOURCE: Can You Blame The Colored Man? -- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)

TERM/PHRASE: got your water on
CONTEXT: It don't mater where you're born, the jug band has got your water on, while they're playing that 4th Street Mess Around.
DEFINITION: The band is ready for whatever the encounter may have to offer.
SONG/SOURCE: 4th Street Mess Around -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: got your water on
CONTEXT: High-powered mama, daddy really got your water on.
DEFINITION: Singer is ready for whatever the encounter may have to offer.
SONG/SOURCE: You Done Done It -- South Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Green River Levee
CONTEXT: I can walk the whole Green River Levee, babe I won't have to hide.
DEFINITION: ? unknown location ? had the reference and lost it - it's just under that pile of papers or in a book I read last year. It'll surface. Let me know if you find it first.
SONG/SOURCE: Red Ripe Tomatoes -- South Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: Greenville
CONTEXT: Greenville Strut (song title).
DEFINITION: There are Greenville's in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas, so take your pick... but the big money is on Greenville, Mississippi.
SONG/SOURCE: Greenville Strut -- Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah

TERM/PHRASE: grin in your face
CONTEXT: They will even laugh and grin in your face.
DEFINITION: Denotes those who, though they seem superficially friendly, ‘don't mean you no good’.
SONG/SOURCE: Feed Your Friend With A Long Handled Spoon -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: grinner
CONTEXT: I'm gonna taught my woman, don't let a grinner get food at your home.
DEFINITION: One who smiles to your face and does you wrong or wishes you ill behind your back.
SONG/SOURCE: Feed Your Friend With A Long Handled Spoon -- Memphis Jug Band

TERM/PHRASE: gwine (phonetic)
CONTEXT: For there's gwine to be a house rent party upstairs and I want's to be the first one to shake a leg.
DEFINITION: Regional African-American pronunciation of going. SONG/SOURCE: House Rent Rag -- Dixieland Jug Blowers

TERM/PHRASE: gwin'ta (phonetic)
CONTEXT: One night I went out in a crap game, I seen a they man called Bad Ben. Soon as I heard him knock on the door I knew trouble was gwin'ta begin.
DEFINITION: Regional African-American pronunciation, contraction of ‘going to.’
SONG/SOURCE: When I Stopped Running I Was At Home -- Dixieland Jug Blowers