about
This most controversial of Cleveland Steamer's recordings, was destined to be his breakthrough hit, on being released from prison in 1952. Steamer had served 3 years in prison from 1949 , after being caught in the act of defecating on the wife of the Mayor of Chicago.
Steamer was jailed for 'Immoral Activities Against the Order of Nature' in a closed hearing. While in prison, many of his early recordings had gained him some level of notoriety. On his release, his manager was keen to get him to record a track in the then booming 'Chicago Blues' style, and quickly assembled a small group of sidemen known as The Floaters.
This recording was the result, but the lyrical content worried the label's managers, and after threats of violence from men in the pay of the mayor, the record was withdrawn and copies of it destroyed. This appears to one of the few pressings of the record that survived.
lyrics
Lyrics:
Rolling down a highway in Jackson, Mississippi
With a pick and a shovel in my hand
Wardens makin sure all the boys are keeping busy
With a 12 Guage and dogs at his command
Breaking rocks with irons on my feet
humping sacks, of gravel in the heat
And all because, of the goddamn Mayors Wife
I got sentenced, to 15 to life
Got caught with my pants around my knees
With that woman a-beggin' Steamer please
It was late, on a dog day afternoon
Stopped into a local greasy spoon
Ham and eggs and a bowl of country chilli
A short stack and a cheesesteak from philly
And I walked out with a turtle in my pants
Ready for some low-down romance
Who did I meet, but a classy kind of girl
Blue-rinsed baby with a neck all draped in pearls
I said baby, are you lookin for some fun?
Of the kind that you sho' wont get at home
Some love, thats chunky like peanut butter
With a man, straight up from the gutter
But little did po' ol' steamer know
As he dropped his po' ol breetches to the floor
That woman aint no ordinary trick
And she mixed me right up in the world of politricks
The wife of the mayor of this town
All ready , for steamer to drop the brown
Caught dead fo' I could stuff that thing back round
It was enough to send this poor boy down
And as I look over the high old prison wall
Thinking I might never drop mo steamers at all
If'm I live on soup that tastes like water
I can't never, drop steamers like I oughta
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