Page 51 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2019

and used as part of a mojo bag. Muddy Waters was playing again locked up and died in prison on March 11, 1912.
an inside joke with this line. His reference would be like saying If a hat had not been involved, this would have been a long-
“Going to bring back my Aunt, Miz Ginger Rogers” or “my forgotten drunken argument. Instead, it became a legend first
Uncle, Little Salt Peter.” sung by Professor Charlie Lee, “The Piano Thumper,” around
Mojo/Mojo bags: A small bag worn around the neck or Kansas City in 1897, re-recorded by several artists, and is still
carried in the pocket with a variety of contents. played weekly at Monday night blues jams around the world.
Mojos were believed to bring good luck and PART THREE: Expressions
were used for positive energy. They often
contained a variety of roots, graveyard dirt, Blues served not only as entertainment, but as an existential
toenail clippings, pubic hairs or whatever they worldview often hidden behind certain expressions. Double
believed would bring good luck and ward off entendre was used to disguise even more profound truths.
evil spirits. Although they would downplay the Dust My Broom: Time to clean house. Time to change course.
belief in such matters to the audiences, most
of the old school blues singers respected and It’s Tight Like That: That’s the way it is. The early predecessor
believed in these charms and talismans – one to “it is what it is.” Life’s circumstances compared to well-
of the reasons that many considered blues to conditioned personal anatomy muscles.
be “devil music.” The mojo bag was also known as a mojo hand. Down to the Crossroads: Given the time, circumstances
Mojo Hand: Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins both sang and Robert Johnson’s genius, there are at least three different
songs about their future plans to acquire mojo hands. The hand meanings:
reference referred to the inclusion of powdered bones in the 1. An actual event. Robert Johnson went to the corner of Old
contents. Mr. Hopkins wasn’t going to Louisiana to engage in a Highways 61 and 49 (N. State Street and Desoto Avenue)
Yakuza ritual. in Clarksdale, MS.
2. He’s talking about making life decisions; daily crossroads
Pudding: The female anatomy. we all face.
Ya Ya: Heroin. 3. In African folklore, the Crossroads represents the intersection
Yas Yas: Buttocks region. between “the two worlds” where the supernatural can be
contacted and the paranormal occurs. The kind of place
Viper: A marijuana user. where you might go to “sell your soul.”
Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee: Substitute
words employed to make the For those of you interested in the evolution of hipster speak
song acceptable. The phrase was and blues terms during the Harlem Renaissance, check out
originally a bawdy army barracks Really the Blues by Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow and Bernard
number that went, “Drinkin’ wine motherf*cker, drinkin’ wine, Wolfe. It’s an amazing story complete with a hip-tionary.
g*ddam.” A few minor word changes, and “Stick” McGhee had Meanwhile, go back and listen again to those old classic
the hit which saved Atlantic Records in the later 1940s. blues records. I hope you’ll enjoy them even more than ever,
especially now that you know what a Conqueroo is.
PART TWO: A Few Characters
Rev. Billy lives in Ocala, FL, with his fiancée Linda, nine
CC Rider: 1. Circuit Rider: A traveling preacher. 2. Hobos who cats and a horse. For more information, he can be reached
rode the Colorado Central railroads in the 1930s. 3. CC Rider at revbilly88@aol.com or facebook.com/revbilly88.
is a play on the phrase “Easy Rider.”
Easy Rider: 1. A freeloader.
2. A sexually liberated woman/a prostitute.
Stagger Lee a.k.a Stack-a-Lee, Stagolee or Stack O’
Lee: Lee “Stag” Shelton belonged to an African American gang
of St. Louis pimps known as “The Macks.” On Christmas night
1895, he got into a bar-room argument with a young stevedore
named Billy Lyons. Lyons’ wife had bought him a Stetson hat
for Christmas. Not content to admire it or buy his own, Shelton
proceeded to grab the hat and play keep-away. When Lyons
demanded its return, Shelton pulled out a Derringer and shot
him. Lyons would eventually die, and Shelton, convicted of
murder, served 12 years. Two years after his release, he was Image from The Story of Stagger Lee by Timothy Lane, produced by Riverfront Times.

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