poon-tang

[Stephen Goranson]

Thanks. The Dec. 9, 1929 NYC recording of Clara Smith singing "Oh! Mister
Mitchell" by Spencer Williams, James P. Johnson on piano, is available online
at:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/clarasmith.html

Was the song earlier published, copyrighted, performed, or mentioned? If so,
when? Might it have been performed in NYC earlier where O'Hara and Wolfe may
have got the word? I haven't found long biographies of Smith or Williams, but,
speaking of French, Williams was in Paris with Josephine Baker for part of the
'twenties. Maybe he needed a rhyme for whang. Yes, iffy, maybe. Of the three
earliest so-far known cites, I imagine the others getting it from the song more
plausible than other options (except, perhaps, earlier unknown use). I haven't
seen the O'Hara letter yet, to see if context and addressee add anything.

OED online "poontang, n." reads "slang (orig. and chiefly U.S. in
African-American usage)," but then, in Etymology, continues, "[Origin uncertain;
perh. < French putain prostitute (see PUTAIN n.).
  The word does not appear to have originated in African-American use.[...]"
What gives?

Here's a longer selection from OED's 1947 cite [my elipses]: "Poley...saw a
pretty Negro girl...."Eye that poon tang there,' he said. 'I could eat it with
a knife and fork. Where I come from we call that kind of stuff--table pussy.'"

At least one of Wolfe's 1929 (or earlier) uses, "Poon-Tang Picnic in
Niggertown," like the song, follows the (earlier) Jelly-Roll-type food analogy.

Stephen Goranson

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