Friday, May 7, 2010

The Merrymen feat. Emile Straker

Artist: The Merrymen feat. Emile Straker
LP: Caribbean Treasure Chest
Song: "Big Bamboo"
[ listen ]

This delightfully dirty little number by The Merrymen (w/ lyrics like: "well I give my lady a sugar cane—sweet of the sweets, I did explain—she give it back, to my surprise—she like the flavor, but not the size. She want the big, big bamboo...") is from one of the LPs I found in the Groove Merchant bargain bins on my trip to San Francisco back in March. Another of the song's lyrics—"workin' for the Yankee dollar"—clears up a 25-year-old mystery concerning The Andrews Sisters' recording of "Rum and Coca-Cola," which I've been singing along to since first taping it off my grandmother's set of Reader's Digest "Hits of the '40s" LPs back in 1984. I thought "both mother and daughter" were workin' for the "Anke Dallah," which I've always figured was some sort of discreet, exotic Caribbean name for a pimp. You can read about The Merrymen here and here, and find their complete discography here.

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