Tuwa's Shanty and The Roots Canal

Monday, December 11, 2006:

Roots Canal: The Bug's Got a Big Bazoo!

Gene Phillips -- Big Bug Boogie
Tuwa sent me a link the other day to a wonderful album on eMusic full of songs I'd never heard before, mostly by artists I'd never heard of. Not only is the music exceptional, but the story behind it is pretty good, too. It was put together by a Toronto blues collector and DJ named Eddy B, from records in his private collection that were so rare they weren't even listed in the standard blues discographies. The first in the series was hard-core blues from the '50s and '60s, but Volume Two goes back to the late '40s and early '50s when jazz was metamorphosing into jump blues into R&B and finally into rock'n'roll (see How Rock Really Began). According to Eddy B's website, Volume Three is coming out next year featuring "Midnite Mammas" from the '40s to the '60s. Can't wait.

This song, by one of the few artists on the record whose work I already knew, has some of the funniest R&B lyrics ever put on wax:

Hey bartender, there's a big bug in my beer
Hey bartender, there's a big bug in my beer
One eye is red, the other is green
The craziest old bug that I've ever seen
Hey bartender, there's a big bug in my beer

Whoo bartender, the bug's got a big bazoo
Whoo-ee bartender, the bug's got a big bazoo
Big old head from there to here
Big old mouth drinking all my beer
Hey bartender, the bug's got a big bazoo

One more beer, without the bug
One more beer, without the bug
One more beer, without the bug
One more beer, without the bug

Well there's bugs on the ceiling, bugs on the floor
All kinds of bugs creeping through the door
There's bugs on the table, bugs on the beer
I do believe there's bugs in my hair

Hey bartender, the bug's made himself a home
Hey bartender, the bug's made himself a home
Every time I take a sip
The big old bug tries to bite my lip
Hey bartender, he's drinking up all the foam

Hey bartender, one thing I've got to know
Hey bartender, there's one thing I've gotta know
If the beer is his, then he can stay
But if it's mine, all I can say
Hey bartender, the big bug's gotta go!

Gene Phillips played Texas-style blues guitar in LA's pioneering R&B scene and recorded regularly with many of the great artists whose songs I've already posted like Wynonie Harris, Jack McVea, Wild Bill Moore, Duke Henderson and Rabon Tarrant. He must have been quite a character. What else can you say about a guy whose CD collections are named Drinkin' and Stinkin' and I Like 'em Fat?

Bonus Track: As I was listening to some of the tracks from this CD, I was startled to hear another "voot" song. About two minutes into the song, you'll clearly hear them sing, "Voo-it! Voo-it! Voo-it!" I guess I'll have to add this to my definitive Voot Detective post.
Billy Langford with His Combo -- Be-Bop on the Boogie

[Midnite Blues Party, Volume Two (eMusic)]

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