Thursday, January 03, 2008

Double Entendre, Dept.

Ruth Wallis - Cabaret Singer - Obituary - New York Times

Risqué ditty queen Ruth Wallis died on December 22 at the age of 87.

In these days of witless profanity, the notion of finding amusement or entertainment or even titillation from a woman singing
"All night long he's trying to do
what he used to do all night long.
"
may be hard to understand.

But such was her stock-in-trade in over 150 naughty-but-nice songs she wrote herself. Your sobsister is a big fan of this sub-genre of music whose Golden Age began in the mid-1920s and ended in the late-1950s. An era of classic tunes like "Big Ten-Inch Record" or "Long John the Dentist".

Still not sure what I mean? Go to the source and enjoy this fine collection of her songs assembled by the Internet Archive.

After you've sampled her sonic wares, toddle over to this site for an eyeful of Ruth Wallis album covers.

I mean, you've got to like a woman who can make erectile dysfunction humorous.
"He couldn't get it up,
couldn't get it up.
He had the Cape Canaveral Blues.
"
To a man, I mean.

2 comments:

Kali said...

That Big Ten Inch record reminded me of when I was ten years old and we use to sit on the floor in front of my friend's brother's eight track and listen to the Aerosmith version!
BTW, why doesn't anyone know what "sea legs" are? Maybe it's just a Jersey Shore thing...

the sobsister said...

I heard the Aerosmith version years before I even knew it was a cover too.

Regarding "sea legs", you may have to become an ambassador for the cuisine. A soon-to-be-grateful nation awaits.