This article is about a particular song type of American blues music. For other uses, see hokum (disambiguation).
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Detail from the cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843
Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make humorous,[1] sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early dirty blues recordings, enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1920s and 1930s,[1] and is used from time to time in modern American blues and blues rock.
An example of hokum lyrics is this sample from "Meat Balls", by Lil Johnson, recorded in 1937:[2]
Got out late last night, in the rain and sleet
Tryin' to find a butcher that grind my meat
Yes I'm lookin' for a butcher
He must be long and tall
If he want to grind my meat
'Cause I'm wild about my meat balls.
^ abRocha 2022, p. 11.
^"Illustrated Rosetta Records discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
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of me, It may be sending you baby, but it's worrying the hell out of me. Hokum blues celebrated both comedic lyrical content and a boisterous, farcical...
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pop Cowboy/Western music Dansband music Franco-country Gulf and Western Hokum Honky tonk music Instrumental country Lubbock sound Nashville sound Countrypolitan...
Desert blues Detroit blues Electric blues Gospel blues Hill country blues Hokum blues Honky Tonk Blues Jump blues Kansas City blues Louisiana blues Memphis...
and death unknown) was an American singer who recorded dirty blues and hokum songs in the 1920s and 1930s. No details of Johnson's origins or early life...
now supports an intricate multi-billion dollar business empire of pure hokum. It is known to wrestling's insiders as 'Kayfabe'." Kayfabe concepts have...
James. In a career spanning over 30 years, he also recorded pop, R&B and hokum songs. His best-known recordings include "Anna Lou Blues", "Black Angel...
Recorded March 2008 Genre Blues, Country blues, Vaudeville blues, Calypso Length 40:18 Label King Hokum Producer Greg J Walker C. W. Stoneking chronology...
1964), credited on his records as The Cedar Creek Sheik, was an American hokum and blues singer and guitarist who recorded in the 1930s. McCutchen was...
West's wonderworks except Diamond Lil, but because of the luridness of the hokum plot and the highly colored melodramatic backgrounds of the new piece, it...
double entendre songs in American blues music of the 1920s and 1930s, called hokum. Double entendres are very common in the titles and lyrics of pop songs...
anything. Another early use was from Ernest Rogers, whose 1949 book The Old Hokum Bucket contained a chapter entitled "We the Sheeple". The Wall Street Journal...
as a "dutifully eager but ultimately rather joyless piece of nostalgic hokum minus the thrill... Though it has its quota of 'relentless' action, it rarely...
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