doubt about shaving ‘em dry
So many days gone and so much I still don't know. I've been listening to The Essential Ma Rainey over and over. I listen to a lot over and over, it's hard to shift gears when you are deep in something good. I love Gertrude Malissa Nix Rainey Pridgitt, Mother of the Blues, part of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and the Assassinators of the Blues. There is one track I have been fascinated with, Shave 'Em Dry. A slightly different version of this song was made famous by Lucille Bogan. However, if you actually listen to Rainey's lyrics, you find it is a song about getting back at a cheating man by shaving him dry. But what does that mean? Not that I really need to know in order to enjoy it … but still, it would be nice to know.
Tincture of opium haze; I never
got that line, “If you meet your man and he
tells you a lie, just pull out your razor
and shave him dry!” Shave what dry? A skanky
mustache? Mutton-chop sideburns? Ma Rainey,
help me! For years I burned incense at your
house of prayer. Shave what dry? A sweet jelly
roll? I love a good jelly roll, the lure
of box lunch; but I don't think that's the case.
Can you shave a roll? I'd never say no
to a nibble, though, jelly down my face,
fingers sticky, sugar making day-glo
blood-haze. I say, where's that razor? I need
you to shave me, lover, until I bleed.