Knife & Fork, Like My Peaches & Shake My Tree (1944) and more

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:24 AM -0500 2/15/05, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>Pg. 799:
>If you don't like my apples,
>Then don't shake my tree;
>I'm not your boy friend,
>He's after me.
>

The first couplet above (but not the second one*) has been a staple
in blues (and folk, and occasionally rock) songs for ages--well
before '44, I'd wager.  I've always assumed a direct physical
allusion here for the peaches and the tree, whether or not that
assumption is warranted, and as a result it seems odd to me when a
woman sings the relevant verse (from the perspective of a woman, that
is).  Of course, I can reconstruct a plausible referent for the
peaches in that case, but then the tree stumps me.

L

More frequent:

If you don't like my peaches,
Don't shake my tree
Stay out of my orchard
Let those peaches be.

or words to that effect