Stella Johnson, "Don't Come Over", (Decca), 1936

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:04 PM -0400 5/30/11, George Thompson wrote:
>The "Sweet Violets" &c chain reminded me that I have had this tucked away
>for some time, intending to post it for the edification of you uns.
>
>I first heard it on WHVW (950 am), but it's also on the net.
>
>http://www.we7.com/track/Dont-Come-Over?trackId=2730002&m=0
>
>
>
>Stella Johnson, "Don't Come Over", (Decca), 1936, with Dorothy Scott's
>Rhythm Boys.  (app. also available on Blue Ladies, 1934-1941 CD)
>
>
>The refrain is:
>
>Don't come over to my flat, I have somebody home with me.
>
>Don't come over to my flat, I be as cool as cool can be.
>
>
>
>This is joined to  the following couplets:
>
>Now you think you are really slick, you turned out to be a no good ...
>
>I took you in, tried to teach you some class, you got drunk and showed your
>natural ...
>
>Showed me the place where you could bring me some luck, you and your family
>aren't worth a ...
>
>Your mammy and sister putting on a front, and all the boys know they're
>crazy about ...
>
>If you bother me I'll turn you up to the cops, because you tried to make
>yourself some ...
>
>Now run along, I'm doing swell, just take your rags and go to ...
>
>Got another man, he's calm as a lamb, when he starts to loving, says, ooh
>god ...
>
>
>
>  I thought it was odd that the taboo on the unsung rhymes got weaker as the
>song developed: form prick, ass, fuck and cunt to ??? (hops = hop =
>cocaine?), hell and damn.
>
>The boys know that mammy and sister are  "crazy about cunt"; I suppose this
>means that they are readily available to the boys.  If so, then an odd
>reversal from the word I would expect here: crazy about cock (in the
>Connecticut River Valley sense of "cock", not the Yazoo River Valley sense).
>
Yes, it appears that even when "cunt" = 'fuck', as in HDAS 1b entry
for "cunt" ('copulation with a woman'), the cites are all from a male
(and hetero) perspective.  Are we sure the "they" in "all the boys
know they're crazy about ..." refers to mammy & sister rather than
the boys themselves?  I agree that your version of the line would
have been more plausible here, although in that case the mammy and
sister would have had to be (e.g.) sitting on the dock rather than
putting on a front.


LH

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