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

[Wilson Gray]

On Feb 15, 2005, at 10:25 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Knife & Fork, Like My Peaches & Shake My Tree (1944)
> and more
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> 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
>

And, of course, it's also a staple of R&B. For example, here's a verse
from a song sung from the male point of view. It was popular du'in' the
Ko-Rean Waw:

Well, you're the cutest thing
That I did ever see
I really love your peaches
Gonna shake your tree

Chorus:

Lovey-dovey
Lovey-dovey all the time

Does it remind you of someone who eventually decided to fly like an
eagle to the sea? And BTW, does anyone besides me remember the duet,
Peaches & Herb? They had a certain amount of cross-over success, as I
recall. If HDAS is ever completed, it may become impossible to slip
this kind of thing past the censors. "Peaches and herb"? How could
anyone miss that reference?

-Wilson