I realize that I have been skipping around the CD with little in the way of a clear organizational scheme, but this week we're going to take a look at track 7: He Likes it Slow. Rest assured that eventually we'll cover every song on the CD, but today I really wanted to introduce ya'll to a very interesting song originally written by some colorful vaudeville characters: Butterbeans and Susie.
Butterbeans and Susie were a mid-century African-American comedy duo whose stage performances featured comedic sketches, banter, dance numbers, and blues numbers. Butterbeans and Susie were played by Josie Edwards and Susie Edwards (Susie Hawthorne). The two met in 1916 and married on stage shortly thereafter, but they did not perform as a comedy team until the 1920s.
They had been touring with a black husband and wife comedy team known as Stringbeans and Sweetie May, and on the death of Stringbeans (Butler May), Josie and Susie agreed to take over the act as Butterbeans and Susie.
The act consisted chiefly of marital quarrels with a dynamic not unlike the Odd Couple. Susie was elegant and presented an air of composure and sexiness while Butterbeans acted the fool in his characteristic too-small pants, tiny bowler hat, and floppy shoes. His loud and belligerent affectation belied a naturally care-free disposition and sweet affection for Susie. Butterbeans' foibles were often the cause of friction between him and his wife, but by the end of every show, Butterbeans and Susie would be getting along happily. Their comedy often focused on married life, but they also dealt with issues related to black life in general.
On stage, the duo could be rather racy or salacious at times. They sang provocative songs full of double entendre and Susie would sometimes perform risque dances. They published several blues records and even appeared in a feature film. In 1926 the duo recorded He Likes it Slow with the famous Louis Armstrong's Hot Five.
He Likes is Slow is an amusing and suggestive song. Butterbeans and Susie's stage act could stray into realms that weren't fit for recording in the mid-1900s, but He Likes it Slow only turns suggestive towards the end. As was typical of the Butterbeans and Susie comedic styling, the song is sung from the perspective of a wife who is complaining about her husband. She complains that in many things, "he likes it slow," suggesting that his plodding outlook on life leaves little room for excitement or romance. However, being slow isn't all bad, she says, because he also takes his time "when he starts making love."
I got the sweetest man you know
I’m crazy about him but he’s so slow
And when he takes me out to have a talk
He never has a taxi he makes me walk
What I’m telling you is true
Everything he goes to do
He likes it slow when he calls to play
He likes it slow when he goes to pray
Just like a snail that man of mine
But I never have to hurry, I just take my time
When he calls he never brings no news
Always got them low down blues.
But when he starts to making love on me
And starts to huggin me so tenderly
The reason papa makes me feel so sweet
Because he likes it slow, honey, in the morning,
Because he likes it slow.
No comments:
Post a Comment