Lucille Bogan

Lucille Bogan (née Anderson; April 1, 1897 – August 10, 1948) Many of Bogan's songs have been recorded by later blues and jazz musicians.

Many of her songs were sexually explicit, and she is generally considered to have been a "dirty blues" musician.

Life and career She was born Lucile Anderson, the daughter of Gussie and Wylie Anderson. According to some sources, she was born in Amory, Mississippi, but according to her entry in the 1900 census her birthplace was Birmingham, Alabama. In 1927 she began recording for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, where she recorded her first big success, "Sweet Petunia", which was covered by Blind Blake. She also recorded for Brunswick Records, backed by Tampa Red.

By 1930, her songs tended to concern drinking and sex, such as "Sloppy Drunk Blues" (written and first recorded by Bogan but released first by Leroy Carr in 1930 then by Bogan the following year, later recorded by others) and "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More" (later recorded by Memphis Minnie). She also recorded the original version of "Black Angel Blues", which (as "Sweet Little Angel") was covered by B. B. King and many others. With her experience in some of the rowdier juke joints of the 1920s, many of Bogan's songs, most of which she wrote herself, have thinly veiled humorous sexual references. The theme of prostitution, in particular, featured prominently in several of her recordings. One of these was "Groceries on the Shelf (Piggly Wiggly)", which was originally written and recorded by Charlie "Specks" McFadden. Piggly Wiggly is the name of a supermarket chain operating in the South and the Midwest, which pioneered self-service grocery sales. Bogan used this self-service notion in her amended lyrics to the song, part of which ran, "My name is Piggly Wiggly and I swear you can help yourself, And you've got to have your greenback, and it don't take nothin' else".

In 1933, she returned to New York, and, apparently to conceal her identity, began recording as Bessie Jackson for the Banner label of ARC. She was usually accompanied on piano by Walter Roland, with whom she recorded over 100 songs between 1933 and 1935, including some of her biggest commercial successes, "Seaboard Blues", "Troubled Mind", and "Superstitious Blues". Another of her songs, "B.D. Woman's Blues", takes the position of a "bull dyke" ("B.D."), with the lyrics "Comin' a time, B.D. women, they ain't gonna need no men", "They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man" and "They can lay their jive just like a natural man." She is interred at the Lincoln Memorial Park, in Carson, California.

In 2016 the Killer Blues Project placed a headstone for Lucille Bogan.

In 2022, she was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. The citation noted that "Bogan recorded some of the most memorable blues songs of the pre-World War II era, including some that were landmarks in blues and some that continue to sensationalize her reputation decades after her death".

Discography Singles As Lucille Bogan + List of singles, with A-side and B-side, showing year released and label A-side B-side Year Label "Chirpin' the Blues" "Triflin' Blues (Daddy Don't You Trifle on Me)" 1923 Okeh "Lonesome Daddy Blues" "Don't Mean You No Good Blues" "The Pawn Shop Blues" "Grievious Blues" "Levee Blues" "Sweet Patunia" 1927 Paramount "Jim Tampa Blues" "Kind Stella Blues" "Doggone Wicked Blues" "Oklahoma Man Blues" "Women Won't Need No Men" "War Time Man Blues" "Craving Whiskey Blues" "Nice and Kind Blues" "Pay Roll Blues" "New Way Blues" 1929 Brunswick "Coffee Grindin' Blues" "Pot Hound Blues" "My Georgia Grind" "Whiskey Selling Woman" 1930 "They Ain't Walking No More" "Dirty Treatin' Blues" "Black Angel Blues" "Tricks Ain't Walking No More" 1931 "Crawlin' Lizard Blues" "Struttin' My Stuff" "Sloppy Drunk Blues" "Alley Boogie"

As Bessie Jackson + List of singles, with A-side and B-side, showing year released and label A-side B-side Year Label "Seaboard Blues" "Troubled Mind" 1933 Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo "House Top Blues" "T N & O Blues" "Roll and Rattler" "Groceries on the Shelf" "Superstitious Blues" "My Baby Come Back" "Mean Twister" "Baking Powder Blues" "New Muscle Shoals Blues" "Red Cross Man" "Sweet Man, Sweet Man" "Down in Boogie Alley" 1934 "Drinking Blues" "Boogan Ways Blues" "Reckless Woman" "Tired as I Can Be" "Pig Iron Sally" "My Man Is Boogan Me" "Changed Ways Blues" "I Hate That Train Called the M and O" "Walkin' Blues" "Forty-Two Hundred Blues" "Stew Meat Blues" "Skin Game Blues" 1935 "Barbecue Bess" "Shave 'Em Dry" "That's What My Baby Likes" "Man Stealer Blues" "Jump Steady Daddy" "B.D. Woman's Blues" "You Got to Die Some Day" "Lonesome Midnight Blues" 1936

Compilation albums +List of compilation albums, with selected details Title Details Alabama Blues (1930–1935) Released: 1968 Label: Roots (1927–1935) Released: 1969 Label: Yazoo (1923–1935) Released: 1989 Label: RST Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume 1 Released: 2 June, 1993 Label: Document Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume 2 Released: 2 June, 1993 Label: Document Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume 3 Released: 2 June, 1993 Label: Document Reckless Woman, 1927–1935 Released: 2000 Label: EPM Musique The Essential Released: 2002 Label: Classic Blues Shave 'Em Dry: The Best of Lucille Bogan Released: May 4, 2004 Label: Columbia