Dirty Thirties aka Banana In Your Fruit Basket

In this episode we’re talking about 1930s song lyrics that have little to do with “cheek to cheek” and a lot to do with putting cheeks to other use. Warning! Strong language and heavy innuendos throughout this one. Very much NSFW.

[@prreow]

As a person who has read some 12th and 13th century bible comments I can say that the past is usually much less prude than we think. Sometimes less than we are. Which I had to learn first hand when talking about said comments in front of a seminar at uni. I was like "and I'm quoting.." and everyone looked at me bewildered 😂

[@ssgtmole8610]

Yeah, the "founding fathers" of america's 18th century would be shocked about how uptight the USA is, and how bible thumpers are trying to have their say in everything.

[@leporid257]

that one song in the bible that's basically like the bloodhoung gang song in flower visuals.

[@OneTrueVikingbard]

Or the time Jeremiah got *really* descriptive of the adultery of Judah

[@karolina8465]

Nihil novi sub solem (nothing new under the sun).

[@Dont_Tell_Anyone_Its_Me]

Our great grandparents really said "WAP like it's the 1930s"

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

A quote i once heard (and may be misremembering a little) that fits to this episode perfectly - "every generation thinks they have invented sex, then once they have children they pretend they didn't". Like yeah, people have always fvcked and they always will. Our parents, our granparents, founding fathers, french royalty, chinese emperrors, egyptian peasants... everyone. And every single generation of every single society that has ever existed had their ways how to express their sexual attraction in form of art somehow. So yeah, it's not surprising at all, though i gotta admit, some of thoae lyrics made me snort with laugh. Some are so bad. Like... SO. BAD. Dad jokes level bad. Like the worst s3x talk in the existence. They are supposed to be like hot and seductive, i can tell, but if someone started singing that song to me as a form of foreplay, i would just start crying with laughter. Where cringe meets pun jokes meets innuendo i just can't. They are so bad they are good and i will be giggling about this for the foreseeable future

[@anacsadder]

I snickered harder than I care to admit at "warm my wiener." I have to imagine at least SOME of these were supposed to be more Bloodhound Gang dirty humor than Marvin Gaye seductive crooning.

[@viktoriabazyk8193]

carefully explaining the nuts metaphor - cut to "anyways this guy has another song, about meatballs" killed me😂😂😂

[@beckstheimpatient4135]

Girl, find yourself the unabridged 1001 Arabian Nights. There's some spicy stuff in there too!

[@isaibanez]

Right?!?!?! People don't remember about "firing canons" at night only because they made them kid friendly!

[@magdalenaklapper5926]

These blues lyrics strangely reminds me of some Polish folk songs about leading horses to a well to drink, sticks and baskets and such. Some of them we were supposed to learn at school without realizing how spicy they are. The level of metaphorisation is almost the same. Seems like the need for non-mainstream, naughty expression is universal in different cultures and times, only accessories are different. Also thanks for making amazing content, Karolina, and good luck with the YT algorithm.

[@tuanoini]

At my school we learned a Latin phrase "Lude cum Aulo et mox ludet cum parvulus Aulus" 😄 It was taught as an example of some grammar rule I can't even remember anymore. In English it goes like "Play with Aulus and soon you will be playing with tiny Aulus". Don't know if it's really 2000 years old Roman literature or just made up but at least it has stuck with me for like 15 years now

[@Mielikkiii]

oh yes, the moment when I learned the symbolism behind water in folk songs (I am not Polish but Slovak, but still close enough) I was beyond shocked, suddenly every song from elementary school is really spicy (also the songs like: I'll give my red apple to whom I like most, I'll like you I'll give you my red apple are quite suspicious)

[@essies4294]

I knew those Slavic folk songs I learned were double entendres!!!😂 I knew I wasn’t just dirty minded!!!

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

It's always strange to me when people assume _any_ generation is a prudish, innocent, afraid of sex generation. Sex has never not been a hit with the masses. Humans, very generally speaking, cannot get enough of the lewd and the suggestive, and the whole show too. A crowd pleaser every time, since the dawn of the species. And it always will be that way.

[@MrViki60]

yeah but the male gaze is evil tho

[@amergingiles]

​@@MrViki60 Only recently.

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

@@MrViki60 Please explain what you thought you were contributing here in more detail. Something tells me you're very confused about what the male gaze is even referring to if you've brought it up here.

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

@@amergingiles The concept of the male gaze couldn't even _exist_ properly until recently, so I don't know what you're even trying to get at here. The term "the male gaze" is used primarily in analysis about how women characters are utilized in TV, movies, and animation, particularly in relation to how the male characters are use in the same piece of media. You hate it, you just don't realize you hate it because men do like to be pandered to (as does everyone) so the name of it makes you think it's worth it. It's not. It's how you get Megan Fox's character in the Michael Bay Transformers movies. At a certain point, it's not pleasing and just insulting to everyone who has ever had more than one thought occur to them.

[@MrViki60]

@@YourWaywardDestiny anything female-presenting that is pleasing to straight males is feeding the rapacious male gaze, which in turns fuel gr@be culture. Straight males must be made to feel perpetualy miserable in order for women to live freely.

[@oldspiritart]

My late husband and I listened to a Saturday night radio program called Blues after Midnight. NOT for the immature audience. We enjoyed the hilarious creations. What a wonderful memory you have brought back to me. He adored Bessie Smith. Thank you so much dear❤😘😘😘 P.s. don’t ever change Karolina👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@estatemuffin]

My dad is 84 and he has always said: his pencil ain't got no lead in it, referring to whoever he was talking abt and I've never had a clue what that meant 🤯

[@erinzeb]

😄 Your Dad didn't mean it like this one. Saying someone else's pencil "ain't got no lead in it" can just be a way of saying they're stupid.

[@estatemuffin]

@erinzeb I hope so 😂 my dad's a fairly mild mannered man and I can't really imagine him meaning it the other way 🤞

[@essies4294]

It means both😂 it’s hard to explain, but many slang terms start off meaning one thing and get used for something spicier later, but the spicy meaning is much subtler at the time and becomes OBVIOUSLY spicy due to usage/ peoples uptake. Funnily enough sayings also start off spicier and become milder, the inverse.

[@erinzeb]

@@essies4294 Yep!

[@alitwosheds]

i think the decameron would blow some people's minds 😁 the hays code really had a butterfly effect on our attitudes towards sex and impressions of human history

[@mikestergios994]

Marie Lloyd was a Victorian-era music hall performer who had a huge double-entondre hit with “She Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas.” She was so popular that she was invited to give a command performance for Queen Victoria herself. The Queen’s head of protocol commanded her to edit the lyrics; so she sang “She sits among the lettuces and leeks.” We are not told whether or not Queen Vikki was amused, but I’m guessing she was.

[@michellenorthrup2059]

Great topic! I’ve always found it funny how euphemisms could be so much more raunchy than direct language. 🤔🤣😬

[@sinimeg]

These songs reminds me of when I started writing fanfics and was scared of using the proper words for stuff, so I used euphemisms that made it sound so much worse and dirty somehow 🤣

[@Amira_Phoenix]

It's almost 100 years since the songs were issued. How can they be still copyrighted?! Is 70 years tops, then it's public domain

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

I still wouldn't risk it. There might be remixes and transfers and companies that have some sort of claim, legitimate or not, they'll find a reason and that's a nightmare.

[@jen204]

It's "Death of the author + 70 years", which is insane, but that's the rule in many places now (thanks to the US pushing for that extension to copyright). At least that's for written works, including lyrics. I don't know about music itself.

[@hpotter22090]

It’s mostly because sound recordings didn’t exist when the founding fathers wrote the copyright clause in the Constitution; they’ve only existed for the last one hundred years of human history. Songs have two parts: the composition (sheet music) and the sound recording, they are even given two different copyright symbols. The latter have only recently given copyright protection in the United States in 1976. It is especially important to distinguish the two because they have different copyright lengths. “Happy Birthday” the composition may be public domain, but anyone can make a recording of it and make a new copyright. In Europe, there is an additional clause about a recording needing to be “published” leading to rushed Copyright Extension Collections of famous artists’ unreleased takes. The US previously did a blanket copyright of all pre-1972 recordings until 2067 (any Fallout fans here?), but the recent passage of the CLASSICS Act is supposed to change this. A lot of KZbin explainers don’t differentiate between the two different copyright symbols.

[@ssgtmole8610]

Try telling the Disney Company that.

[@NoDecaf7]

Oh my goodness Lucille Bogan! I went down a rabbit hole a few years back and didn't realize my partner came home. He had some interesting looks for me... It's hilarious listening to you reading these lyrics so plainly 😆

[@suzannecontant]

What I find the most interesting is just how far back some of these "explicit slang" words were coined and used. I've heard recordings of some of these songs and they're great!

[@claressadubs]

It's all cute food metaphors about fruit and hotdogs and churnin butter and then Lucille come in like "IF YOU **** MY ***** I'LL **** YOUR ****!" 😂 🙌

[@ssgtmole8610]

As someone who has had to put up with idiotic ideas of what a "moral" society is for over 60 years in america, I am fed up with standards that not even those who advocate for them are able to meet. Sure, there are people who can limit themselves to such strictures, but they have to tie themselves into destructive mental knots to do so. Any "moral code" is subjective. It is never going to be objective. I am fed up with Victorianisms. She's been dead for over 200 years. Give it a rest. Live a lot!

[@pollysshore2539]

Pushing 50 for me. It’s incredibly annoying. I feel like I’ve been stuck on a hamster wheel the whole time.

[@hannahnohlgren989]

Me not being surprised since listening to the 90s/early 20ths songs we sang as kids and in hindsight understood what the lyrics were extremely sexual and innuendos. 😂 I just expect every century/generation has them which is funny. Sex has been around for awhile after all. 🤣🤣

[@triangle_cat]

These was WAP back in my day🧓🧓🍑🔥🍒🍑 Thanks for the podcast!

[@Musikkoffer]

These frivolous texts and recordings weren‘t just a thing in african-american Blues (even while it was a trend in that community back then) but in europe too - especially Germany. Even while there weren‘t most of the time that explicit or didn‘t record particular parts of the song, you always knew what was intended. Very „popular“ motives were how he or she would cheat on his/her partner and very often texts about gay love or sex.

[@mmedujard]

Yes, exactly! I'm thinking of the "Lila Lied" or "Hannelore"!

[@KazWinchester]

The hays code fucked us all over.

[@stellas3233]

As a lifelong 1930s jazz and blues fan, I'm thrilled about this. The novelty song My Girl's Pussy (supposedly about a cat, but the term was already being used in the context we know soo..) and the Bessie Smith classic Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl have always made me chuckle

[@lethalviolet]

Wow!!! When did you blow up!? For some reason I haven’t seen your videos in ages! I am so so happy to see the 1M mark for you! Well deserved! 💜🖤

[@sarahwatts7152]

I'm so glad people in the past had fun

[@Ben-kv7wr]

My fav part of Lucille bogan’s shave em dry is when the lyrics get so nasty she can’t sing them without laughing

[@perils9621]

Absolutely any reference to food = 🌶

[@dorotarawicz-lipinska1150]

a perfect example being 'I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll' by Butterbeans & Susie 🙂

[@SandieMitchell]

Well, slap me silly; Grandma was listening to trash!🤣

[@stephaniemarie4946]

The 10,000 bleeps in the last song make it even funnier 😂😂😂

[@tstymctst]

Absolutely delightful, honestly. I'm going to look up some of these for myself so I can listen to them properly

[@АллаПанина-ъ5м]

Omg these lyrics are hilarious! I'm gonna go down this rabbit hole for sure...

[@rolom3]

BahaHAHA when it got to Lucille Bogan I couldn't stop laughing 😂

[@jamestolson2804]

Thanks! "You made me blush"😁

[@olafsigursons]

Like the movie guy would say: using tight in a song is tight!

[@ezrelab6637]

my first thought went to "black snake moan" hehehe i learned abt that in american music in college heh

[@mrsgingernoisette]

Shocking lyricssss WORSE THAN ANACONDA LOL

[@dandantsm6560]

Girl... This is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@MeemsyD]

Haha they were out to play! I always think that part of some of the extreme rules about chastity and proprietary in the past was absolutely *in response* to the population being buckwild at the time, always the same anywhere and any time.😅

[@americanviking9384]

Perfect way to start my day 🤣

[@AmarisFrede]

Wow. I just picture Steve Rogers, Captain "Language!" America walking into a bar and hearing these songs. I know he's fictional, but he's my only reference for someone from that time so far. 😆

[@rolom3]

Omg I am sooo excited to listen to this

[@DennisBratland]

Why am I not surprised The Stones stole that line?

[@kaylaj4127]

Every time you say Little Johnson I think of Lil' John 😂

[@MontyPythonQueen614]

I have some video ideas for you! You should design a hybrid outfit between 60s/70s hippie and regency! And 18th century French rococo and kawaii fashion, like for the hippie/regency one, you can wear flowers, a headband, and paint your face, if you look at old footage or photos of hippies, they have their faces painted. And for the roccoco/kawaii one, you can wear a straw hat or some sort of hat and decorate it with like small plushies and toys

🧐📝

[@jontyslade101]

I have no time for prudes

[@dpedaci]

Back in the mid 90s I found some blues CDs in closeout bin at a record store. One was dirty blues, although I can't remember if any of the songs you quoted were on it, and one was Reefer Blues all about smoking pot I loved them but don't know where they are now 🙂

[@frankharr9466]

People are a lot more earthy than they let on.

[@christinaoconnor1523]

truly hilarious! my word - super episode - a real LOL doozy!

[@krism.9363]

Just heard the intro. & I’m so ready to listen!!! 😂

[@jmchau]

My dad was born in the late 20's, so this brings up the thought of my grandparents knowing these songs (my grandpa was friends with many club musicians in his area) and having sex. and the thought of my grandparents having sex is just as bad as the thought of my parents...just no. you know it happened, but ugh. no.

[@thesufficientgatsby]

Girl please tell me you're going to comment on Bridgerton season 3 costume design because it's KILLING me

[@Mica-24]

Little Johnson, the orginal "little" rapper, rip

[@dangvorbei5304]

This is straight out of the club in Walk Hard.

[@arthistorystorytime]

Sounds like a line in a rap battle because it was!! 😂 it’s the origin of modern day RAP - Rhythm And Poetry ❤

[@user-bm5zc9sc3q]

PLEASE WE NEED AN INFINITY AMOUNT OF HOLY WATERFALLS NOW😭😭😭

[@KathrynHenny]

Thanks for the Bogan recommendations. So surreal.

[@hariberrowyoga]

Can you link in the description to a Google sheet with a list of the songs? :)

[@LS-um3zq]

This was so funny!

[@eniggma9353]

so romantic.

[@moistsquish]

Gotta give it to em for the creativity

[@skeinofadifferentcolor2090]

Y'all should read the Bible sometimes. The content in there is super spicy. Proverbs 5:18-19 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

[@vickinoeske1154]

Spicy!🌶🌶🌶

[@pyenygren2299]

I love these songs. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

[@midtwilightblue]

No wonder why rap and hip hop is the audio p*n of music

[@KimGhidorah]

I'm convinced Lucille Bogan was CupcakKe in a past life 😂

[@J_Gamble]

😄 Great review :)

[@0er_71m3]

Co powiesz o Studiu Filmów Rysunkowych w Bielsku-Białej?

[@darthbee18]

AAAAAAARRRGHH naughty YT algo! No wonder it got so few views still even after a little while! 😩🤦🏽💀. But I'll be damned... The lyrics are hilarious and unmistakably spicy 🔥🔥😏😉, this is totally what they were bumping to in the club back then 😅😂🤣🤣🙈

[@I_am_Lauren]

12 year old boy lyrics. haha

[@PlayerClarinet]

Jelly-roll Morton. Just sayin'.

[@skokian1able]

Try Bessie Smith's Kitchen Man 🤭

[@1st1anarkissed]

"My grandparents" were kids once too. Don't be so prudish. They were laughing hard at the censors.

[@philurbaniak1811]

Watching the Likes hovering at 69 😆👌

[@deusvitae69]

MY WIG!!! T__T

[@fluentdogtraining5047]

Omg I was DYING 😂

[@phirion6341]

Audio ?

[@miahan8988]

15:14 someone use AI to make an Eminem cover of this

[@OneTrueVikingbard]

20:15

[@NemFX]

Why don't you do video anymore?

[@Heothbremel]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@rin-eri]

your voice is quite echoey. it makes it hard to listen to. maybe consider some sound dampening panels for your recording space?

[@c64844]

I'm asexual, so I'm kinda repulsed by these more than anything else, but I applaud their creativity.

[@chessfera3899]

Hewwo