Edited by Azizi Powell
[revised 2/26/2013]
This post showcases a sound file of & lyrics to the 1928 Blues song "Chocolate To The Bone" by Barbecue Bob.
Comments about this songs is also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
FEATURED SOUND FILE
Barbecue Bob - Chocolate to the Bone
PreWarMusic, Uploaded on Nov 23, 2008
A song recorded by Barbecue Bob, the most successful musician who played in the Atlanta Blues style who's recording career was cut short by his premature death in 1931.
LYRICS: CHOCOLATE TO THE BONE
(as recorded by Barbecue Bob)
Chorus:
Love that I’m brownskin, Love that I’m brownskin.
Chocolate to the bone.
Love that I’m brownskin, chocolate to the bone.
And I've got what it takes
to make a monkey man leave his home.
Verse 1
Black man is evil. Yellow is so lowdown
Black man is evil. Yellow man is so lowdown
I walk into these houses
just to see these black men frown
Verse 2
I'm just like Miss Lilliam, like Miss Lilliam
I mean Miss Lynn you see.
I'm just like Miss Lilliam I mean Miss Lynn you see.
She said ah brown skin man is just all right with me.
Chorus
So glad I’m brownskin, chocolate to the bone
Love that I’m brownskin, chocolate to the bone
I've got what it takes
to make a monkey man leave his home
Verse #3
Yellow man won't quit. Black man just won't hey
Yellow man won't quit. And ah black man just won't hey
But a pigmeat mama crazy about ah brownskin baby ways
Verse #4
I got a yellow mama, got ah yellow mama
She always got a pleasant smile
I got a yellow mama, got ah yellow mama
She always got a pleasant smile
But that brownskin gal with her coal‑black dreamy eyes
Chorus
Love that I’m brownskin, Love that I’m brownskin
I’m chocolate to the bone
Love that I’m brownskin, chocolate to the bone
and I got what it takes
to make a monkey man leave his home
Last verse
mmm mmm mmm
Lawd Lawd Lawd Lawd
and I got what it takes
to make a monkeyman leave his home.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file on 12/3/2012; A similar transcription can be found at http://www.blueslyrics.com.ar/Barbecue-Bob/Chocolate.html
Additions or corrections are welcome.
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WHAT "CHOCOLATE TO THE BONE" MEANS
"Chocolate to the bone" is a racial affirming phrase which measn that the person is proud to be Black. Although the extended form of this phrase isn't used, "chocolate to the bones" means "chocolate down to my bones".
The literal form of this phrase probably means that the person is of unmixed Black ancestry. Other ways of saying "I'm chocolate to the bone" are "I'm brown through and through", or "I'm all Black". However, I believe that the usual meaning given to the phrase "chocolate to the bone" is that the person is proud of being Black [being of any Black African descent]. This meaning is informed by the United States' social definition of race which indicated/indicates that a person with one drop of "black blood" is Black (a member of the Black race).
People who describe themselve as "chocolate to the bone" are declaring that they love their Black ancestry. This acceptance of being Black is no small feat in a racist society in which people are socialized to despise dark skin color and love white skin color.
The phrase "chocolate to the bone" may date from the 1928 song by Bluesman Barbecue Bob. That phrase-and not the song- may be relatively familiar to a portion of African Americans, particular those who are over forty years of age. Another, probably more familiar folk saying that implies pride in one's dark skin color is "the blacker the berry/the sweeter the juice". That saying is found in African American Thomas W. Talley's now classic 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise & Otherwise (rhyme title: "You Love Your Gal")
"Trini to the bone" [Trinidadian to the bone" is a Caribbean form of the phrase "chocolate to the bone". That patriotic phrase affirms one's love of being from Trinidad (or from Trinidad & Tobago). The use of the colloquial referent "Trini" marks this form of that phrase as being of somewhat recent origin. That phrase may have been used prior to David Ruffin's 2003 Soca song "Trini to de bone". However, that song certainly popularized that phrase. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCYlLG8VR8 for a sound file of that Soca song.
The saying "Trini to the bone" is mirrored in other such phrases ["Bajan to the bone" (from Barbados) and "Antiguan to the bone (from Antigua). My guess is that the African American colloquial expression "chocolate to the bone" was the source of these Caribbean colloquial expression.
NOTES ABOUT THE SONG "CHOCOLATE TO THE BONE"
The Blues song "Chocolate To The Bone" is a self-affirming, bragging Blues song in which for the most part the singer indicates a preference for brown skinned Black people over light skinned (yellow) Black people. In this song, brown skinned Black men are referred as "brownskin" or as "Black man" while light skinned Black people are referred to as "yellow".
Although the a male, Barbecue Bob, sings this song, I believe that the chorus and all the verses except Verse #4 are meant to be sung by a female.
Chorus:
"And I've got what it takes to make a monkey man leave his home" - This is a bragging assertion that the woman has what it takes to make any Black man leave the woman he is with to be with her.
**
In the song "Chocolate To The Bone" the phrase "Monkey man" is a referent for a Black man.
WARNING: “Monkey man” is definitely a pejorative referent now and probably also considered a pejorative referent when this song was recorded. It's possible that some Black people used this referent as a challenge to & in defiance of the society that demeans Black people. User be aware.
Verse #1
"Black man is evil. Yellow is so lowdown" - I believe that "black man" here either refers to brown skinned Black men [Those Black men who aren't light skinned] or to dark brown skinned Black men. In this verse, the singer indicates that she viewed all of the men negatively regardless of their skin color.
"I walk into these houses just to see these black men frown" -
This line may refer to the segregation in Black American social clubs band based on skin color [light skinned Black people were members of or frequented certain clubs and other Black people frequented other clubs. The singer [who I believe was a woman] indicates that she went to whichever club she wanted to even if she was met with frowns.
Verse #2
I'm just like Miss Lilliam,...I mean Miss Lynn you see." - I'm not sure who the singer is referring to, but this woman [was she someone famous?] liked (preferred) a man with brown skin.
In the line "ah brown skin man is just all right with me" the word "just all right" means "very acceptable" and not "just barely acceptable."
Verse #3
"Yellow man won't quit. Black man just won't hey" - I believe this line refers to the men's sexual staying power. I think that the singer means that the Black man [the brown skin man] has more staying power than the light skinned man, but I'm not sure if that's what this line means. Even though that's not how he sung those line, I wonder if the words are supposed to be "Black man just won't. Hey"
Verse #4
"But that brownskin gal with her coal‑black dreamy eyes" - I believe the end of this line that isn't given would have been an assertion that although the light skinned [yellow woman] has a pleasant smile the brown skinned woman is favored over her because of her "coal black dreamy eyes".
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RELATED LINK
Click http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1018631&style=music&fulldesc=T for information about Barbecue Bob.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/examples-of-rhymesong-shes-my-one-black.html for examples of the children's rhyme/song "She's My One Black, Two Black". I believe that "Chocolate To The Bone" is the primary source of that rhyme/song.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the legacy of Bluesmen Barbecue Bob. Thanks also to the uploader of this sound file.
Finally, thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Barbecue Bob - Chocolate to the Bone (Sound File, Lyrics, Comments)
Posted on 12:38 AM by Unknown
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