Mountain Oysters

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Oil on wood, 9 x 5.5 inches, 2016

Years ago I was totally into 1940s and 50s R&B but the Top 100 has been skipping this era for a number of years. If it comes to R&B from that era, the King Records label from Cincinnati provided some of the best. Henry Glover was the executive producer for King Records, the first African-American in such position. He is also the singer on the track Mountain Oysters by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. The tune is a classic and also features, beside Davis and Glover, the Bill Doggett  Trio. Mountain Oysters was  recorded under Davis' name in 1949 and appears on the King Records compilation LP Risky Blues from 1971. As the title indicates the record is filled with songs with suggestive lyrics. Henry Glover himself seem to have specialized in such lyrics as he penned It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion), I Want a Bowlegged Woman, and the iconic Rocket 69. The credits for Mountain Oysters however go to Henry Bernard. Many of the songs on Risky Blues also appear on similar compilations such as Copulation Blues, Straight and Gay, and Risque Rhythm. Sex sells is the motto of the record companies, and there's enough suckers like me who fall for it. "Cause the folks in Georgia, way back home, They love that meat that ain't got no bone! Oysters, those good old mountain oysters!" Mountain oysters, btw, is a dish of fried bull or hog testicles. Bon appetit.