Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary

T

240 tack ann(ie) verb of motion.Upon this seemingly nebulous edifice,a rabid cult of jazz was createdin1935bywhite enthusiasts,resultinginthevoguetermsswing/swing music, and attendant debates as to what“swing”actually meant or entailed. The above represents the earliest documented use of swing as a superlative. As applied to music,apart from the 1932 Duke Ellington composition“It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” it is first evident in a vocal aside, “Swing now,” (Lovin’ Sam Theard,“That Rhythm Gal,” 1934). T Tack Ann(ie) (If) you think I’m lyin’ just ask Tack Ann Took many a broad from many a man. —George Hannah,“The Boy In The Boat,” 1930 A storied Chicago blues singer notorious for promiscuity;during World War I she was said to have donned a soldier’s uniform,infiltrated an army company, and worked as a prostitute (Mayo Williams). She was also said to make a specialty of removing the jeweled tie tacks of unsuspecting males,hence her nickname (Townley, 1976). King Oliver’s 1926 jazz instrumental“Tack Annie” was named for this figure. take Woman take the blues, she gonna buy her paper an’ read Man take them blues he gonna catch a train an’ leave. —Willie Baker,“Weak-Minded Blues,” 1929 To be seized by or have an attack of something; a standard English construction that rarely occurs in the active voice (cf. OED). See taken down. take God to tell Goin’ away sweet mama, don’t you wanna go? Take God to tell when I be back here anymore. —Charlie Patton,“Screamin’ And Hollerin’ The Blues,” 1929 A black catchphrase applied to what is unknowable; invoked in Zora Neale Hurston’s Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934): “ . . . Wonder whut she thinkin’ ’bout?” “Take uh God tuh tell.” talkin’ about 241 take it as it comes Lord I once was a hobo. . . . But I decided I’d go down South last night, and take it as it comes. —King Solomon Hill,“The Gone Dead Train,” 1931 To deal with events as they occur (OED). take one’s time The men don’t like me ’cause I speak my mind But the women crazy about me ’cause I take my time. —Charley Lincoln,“Jealous Hearted Blues,” 1927 To have unhurried or prolonged sex;generally used to extol males.This idiom is a twiston the standard Englishmeaning of the phrase:“to allowoneselfsufficient time (to do something);hence (sarcastically),to be‘quite long enough,’ i.e., too long: to loiter” (OED). take you where you want to go, (it) will I’m crazy about a Packard, but my baby only rates a Ford A Packard is too expensive, Ford will take you where you wanna go. —Blind Lemon Jefferson,“D B Blues,” 1928 A saying applied to cars that are serviceable, if nothing else. taken down “This old soul, you know; the time she left Chicago, you know; old soul taken down with the flu, you know.” —Bukka White,“The Panama Limited,” 1930 A Southern colloquial variant of taken ill, “to be seized or struck with illness . . .” (OED at take, v.6.d), found in an overseer’s letter of the 1850s:“The hands is all got Better But anne she was takeing down . . .”(TT). Used with reference to a specific illness (ADD). talk all out of one’s head It was late one night on a milk-white iron bed I rolled my baby, till she talked all outta her head. —Otis Harris,“You’ll Like My Loving,” 1929 To babble, usually drunkenly, and consequently to say things one later forgets or retracts (Tom Shaw). This expression is an embellishment of a colloquial term for being temporarily irrational,out of one’s head (used in Erskine Caldwell’s God’s Little Acre, 1935:“‘He’s out of his head a little,’ Ty Ty said.‘He drank too much raw corn.’”). talkin’ about If you hear this song, an’ don’t take my advice “I’m talkin’ about ‘an’ don’t take my advice’; you better take my advice, too!” 242 tango It might cause you partner, to lose your life. —Buddy Boy Hawkins,“Yellow Woman Blues,” 1927 A black catchphrase preceding quoted conversation, found in August Wilson ’s Fences (1985): “. . . you ain’t done none of your chores . . . and you come in here talking about ‘Yeah.’ Talking about,‘Baby, you know you’ll always be number one with...