What are the canonical "cocksman" blues performances?

September 19, 2009 10:42 AM

What are the canonical "cocksman" blues performances?

i.e. Howlin' Wolf - "Back Door Man". I'm planning a "mixtape". That's what we called 'em. And we wore onions on our belts... which was the style at the time...

posted by Joe Beese to media & arts (15 comments total)

"Hootchie Cootchie Man" by Muddy Waters is as canonical as it gets.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:52 AM on September 19 [2 favorites has favorites]

And to clarify the question: "cocksman" need not be gender-specific. Koko Taylor's performance of "Wang Dang Doodle" is equally convincing as a boast of sexual prowess.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:52 AM on September 19

Not so much a performance as a canonical "cocksman" - Bo Carter (mentioned here). A few sample tracks courtesy of Amazon.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:04 AM on September 19

'I'm a Man'/'Mannish Boy'.
posted by box at 11:14 AM on September 19

Probably not canonical, but Bessie Smith's 'My Man Blues' is absolutely awesome. It has a proto-rap break in the middle where Bessie threatens to stab somebody.

There are quite a few dirty-blues compilations--Eat to the Beat is one good one.
posted by box at 11:19 AM on September 19 [1 favorite has favorites]

If you're still trying to balance the sausage fest, I can't think of a braggier female blues singer dirtier than Lucille Bogan (Bessie Jackson). The two I could find online...
(Do Me) Til The Cows Come Home
Shave 'em Dry

And for the other side of the equation:
My Pencil Won't Write No More (Bo Carter)
posted by rokusan at 12:32 PM on September 19 [3 favorites has favorites]

Anything by Lucille Bogan.


I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb,
I got somethin’ between my legs’ll make a dead man come,
Oh daddy, baby won’t you shave ‘em dry?
Aside: Now, draw it out!
Want you to grind me baby, grind me until I cry.
posted by The White Hat at 12:33 PM on September 19

Jinx, Rokusan!
posted by The White Hat at 12:33 PM on September 19 [1 favorite has favorites]

Lord, Send Me an Angel by Blind Willie McTell.

That new way of loving, swear to God it must be best,
For these Georgia women won't let Mr. McTell rest.
posted by chorltonmeateater at 12:39 PM on September 19

Bull "Moose" Jackson - Big Ten Inch Record
posted by drlith at 12:41 PM on September 19

Sippie Wallace - I'm a Mighty Tight Woman

Songs about other people's lovin' or cocksmithin'

Pearl Traylor and Chuck Thomas - Three Ball Sam
Wynonie Harris - I Like My Baby's Puddin'
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 2:08 PM on September 19

Here's a link for Sippie Wallace--that is a great song, but to me its boasts have a tinge of desperation rather than pure braggery.

But if bragging about the unmanageable appetite, attractiveness, and prowess of one's wife counts: Jimmy Davis' pair "Red Nightgown Blues" and "She's a Hum Dum Dinger (from Dingersville)"
posted by hippugeek at 3:27 PM on September 19

White Stripes - "Ball and Biscuit"

Perhaps it's not canonical yet. But you can take out the lyrics and the guitar alone is the cockiest damn thing I've heard come out in a while.


ps - Please tell us the track listing when you finalize it!
posted by hippugeek at 3:38 PM on September 19 [2 favorites has favorites]

BTW, Bonnie Rait covered Wallace's "Mighty Tight Woman" on her first album back in the early seventies.
posted by justcorbly at 3:40 PM on September 19

Another Bessie Smith recommendation: One Hour Mama. Sorry, can't find a link, although Youtube has a snippet of Maria Muldaur (?!) covering this tune.

I may want love for an hour
Then decide to make it two
May be an hour before I'm started
May be three 'fore I'm through...

I don't want no greenhorn lover
Like a rookie goin' to war
With a load of big artillery
But he don't know what it's for!

I'm a one hour mama
And no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me!
posted by Sublimity at 9:00 PM on September 19