Butterbeans and Susie

Vaudeville stars Butterbeans & Susie made a good living in the 1920s through the 50s, singing light comedic songs about the war between the sexes and the pitfalls of domestic life. Butterbeans was all bluster, making empty threats of violence when Susie gets out of line (though their “A to Z Blues” is rather disturbing—an alphabetical list of which of her body parts he’s going to slice with his razor after she stays out all night). But Susie could dish it out just as well, and stood her ground and refused to take any guff from her man. Her lusty “I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll” is a tongue in cheek song about her search for the perfect guy to fulfill her needs.

Public radio’s Riverwalk Jazz did a nice tribute to the duo—follow the link to listen to a 5 minute clip from a show in which vocalists Vernel Bagneris and Topsy Chapman re-enact a classic Butterbeans and Susie number.

Download some recordings of Butterbeans and Susie made from 1925-29 to get a feel for what it must have been like to be in the audience at the Apollo Theater, or one of the other vaudeville venues of the time.

Selections from Butterbeans and Susie:
A to Z Blues
Let the Doorknob Hit You in the Back
Brown Skin Gal
That Same Dog
I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll
Hydrant Love (Turn it On, Shut it Off)
When My Man Shimmies
I’ll Put You Under the Jail
T’aint None of Your Business

Bonus: He Likes it Slow, backed by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five (Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Lil Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds)