Pinchbacks - Take Em Away
by Bessie Smith Irving Johns recording of April 4 1923 from The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy C2K-47091) Girls, I wanna tell you about these sweet men These men goin' around here tryin' to play cute I'm hard on you boys, yes sir! I fell in love with a sweet man once He said he loved me too He said if I'd run away with him What nice things he would do I'd travel around from town to town How happy I would feel But don't you know he would not work Girls, take this tip from me Get a working man when you marry And let all these sweet men be Child, it takes money to run a business And with me I know you girls will agree There's one thing about this married life That these young girls have got to know Say, if a sweet man enter your front gate Turn out your light and lock your door Yes, get a working man when you marry Let all these pinchbacks be Child, it takes money to run a business And with me I know you girls will agree And if this panic stays on much longer I'll hear all these young girls say That it's a long way to Oklahoma But these little pinchbacks, take them away __________ Note 1: pinchbacks, pinchbecks in modern day spelling, an alloy of copper and zinc used especially to imitate gold in jewelry. Also, something counterfeit or spurious. In the context of the song it is used for men who give their lovers cheap fake gold jewelry.
