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Big Ten Inch Record
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Wikipedia article
"'Big Ten Inch Record'", also known as "Big Ten-Inch (Record of the Blues)", is a rhythm and blues song written by Fred Weismantel. It was first recorded in 1952 by Bull Moose Jackson and released by King Records. The song was later covered by Aerosmith and released as part of the 1975 album, 'Toys in the Attic'. It has been rated as one of the best double entendre songs of all time.
Versions
Bull Moose Jackson
The original version of the song was performed by Bull Moose Jackson. It was released in 1952 on King Records as disc 4580. Jackson was backed on the recording by Tiny Bradshaw's Orchestra.("Big Ten - inch Record , recorded by Moose Jackson and the Tiny Bradshaw Orchestra in 1952 , is another example of the ways in which artists invoked the myths of black male sexuality to undercut them.") The song was not a hit, reportedly due to the fact that it was "too suggestive" and "radio stations wouldn't touch it".Jackson stopped performing in the 1960s and worked as a food service worker in Washington, D.C. In the 1980s, his popularity was revived after a Pennsylvania band, The Flashcats, began playing "Big Ten Inch Record" at their shows and invited Jackson to perform with them.
Jackson's version of the song has been re-issued on multiple compilation discs, including "Badman Jackson That's Me" (1991), "Ride, Daddy, Ride and Other Songs of Love" (1991), "Risque Blues: The King Anthology" (2002), "The Very Best of Bull Moose Jackson: Big Ten-Inch Record" (2004), and "The Bull Moose Jackson Collection 194555" (2013).
Aerosmith
The rock band Aerosmith covered the song on its 1975 album, 'Toys in the Attic'. The recording was Aerosmith's second cover of rhythm and blues songs from the early 1950s, having covered "Train Kept A-Rollin'" on its 1974 album, 'Get Your Wings'.The song received mixed reviews. One critic predicted that it would be "the only Aerosmith song hoary historians and earnest teen-agers will be playing 100 years from now." On the other hand, Mark Simmons of 'The Austin American-Statesman' called it "low humor" and opined that "the double entendre 'Big Ten Inch' goes deservedly limp."
While omitted from "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" in 1980, the song has since been re-issued on multiple Aerosmith compilations, including "Pandora's Box" (1991), "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits 19731988" (2001), "O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits" (2002), and "The Essential Aerosmith" (2011).
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Additional covers
=In addition to Aerosmith, the song has also been covered by other artists, including Sugar Blue and Marshall Crenshaw, Al Copley, Blerta, The Roadrunners, Dana Gillespie, and Candye Kane.
Lyrics and double entendre
On its face, the song describes the reaction of the singer's girlfriend when he plays his latest ten-inch record. However, by the repeated use of a pregnant pause prior to the word "record", the song suggests that the woman is excited not by the record but by the narrator's ten-inch penis. The following passage is typical:
Got me the strangest woman
Believe it, this chick's no cinch
But I really get her goin'
When I take out my Big Ten Inch
Record of the band that plays the blues
In "The History of Rock & Roll", Ed Ward called the song "a masterpiece of double entendre and timing." Although the song's lyrics are written in the form of an "extended sexual metaphor", they have been cited as part of a trend toward more "open sexuality" in rhythm and blues music of the early 1950s.
In 2014, 'Salon' rated Aerosmith's "Big Ten Inch Record'" as one of the 19 greatest double entendre songs of all time.
References
Category:1952 songs
Category:King Records (United States) singles
Category:Rhythm and blues songs
Category:Songs about music
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