03 nov Alles van het varken

Alles van het varken

‘Give me a pigfoot and a bottle of beer’ is in 1933 geschreven door de Amerikaanse blues en jazz-zanger Wesley Wilson. Dit liedje is gezongen door onder anderen Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln en Bobby Short. De mooiste vertolking – naar mijn bescheiden mening – is die van Billie Holiday. De pigfoot verwijst naar een delicatesse: varkenspootjes dus. Er zijn liefhebbers die altijd wat pootjes in de vriezer hebben klaarliggen.

Up in Harlem every saturday night
Where the highbrows get together
It’s just too right
They all congregate and all night hop
And what they do is ooh boppa dap
Ole hanna brown from way across town
Gets full of corn and starts
Bringing them down
And at the break of day
You can hear ole hanna say

Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me a gate i don’t care
Feel just like i wanna clown
Give the piano player a drink
Because he’s bringing me down
He’s got rhythm yeah, when he stamps his feet
He sends me right off to sleep
Cheek all your razors and all your guns
We’re gonna be arrested when the wagon comes

Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me cause i don’t care
I want a pigfoot and a bottle of gin
Send me daddy move right in
I feel just like i wanna shout
Give the piano player a drink
Because he’s knocking me out
He’s got rhythm when he stamps his feet
He moves me right off to sleep
Check all your razors and your guns
Do the hueklebuck until the rising sun

Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of gin
Move me, ‘cause i’m in my sin
Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer

Dit stilleven met varkenskop, varkenspootjes en worst is van een onbekende maker. De vervaardigingsdatum: tussen 1600 en 1650.