Big Ten Inch Record

"Big Ten Inch Record", also known as "Big Ten-Inch (Record of the Blues)",[1] 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.

"Big Ten Inch Record"
Single by Bull Moose Jackson
B-side"I Needed You"
Released1952
GenreRhythm and blues
LabelKing
Songwriter(s)Fred Weismantel

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.[2][3] Jackson was backed on the recording by Tiny Bradshaw's Orchestra.[4] The song was not a hit, reportedly due to the fact that it was "too suggestive" and "radio stations wouldn't touch it".[5][1]

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.[1][6]

Jackson's version of the song has been re-issued on multiple compilation discs, including "Badman Jackson That's Me" (1991),[7] "Ride, Daddy, Ride and Other Songs of Love" (1991),[8] "Risque Blues: The King Anthology" (2002),[9] "The Very Best of Bull Moose Jackson: Big Ten-Inch Record" (2004),[10] and "The Bull Moose Jackson Collection 1945–55" (2013).[11]

Aerosmith

The rock band Aerosmith covered the song on its 1974 album, Toys in the Attic.[12] The recording was Aerosmith's second cover of rhythm and blues songs from the early 1950s, having covered "Train Kept A-Rollin'" on its 1973 album, Get Your Wings.[13]

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."[14] 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."[15]

While omitted from "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" in 1980,[14] the song has since been re-issued on multiple Aerosmith compilations, including "Pandora's Box" (1991),[16] "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits 1973–1988" (2001),[17] "O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits" (2002),[18] and "The Essential Aerosmith" (2011).[19]

Additional covers

In addition to Aerosmith, the song has also been covered by other artists, including Sugar Blue and Marshall Crenshaw,[20] Al Copley,[21] Blerta, The Roadrunners,[22] Dana Gillespie,[23] and Candye Kane.[24]

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[25]

In "The History of Rock & Roll", Ed Ward called the song "a masterpiece of double entendre and timing."[26] 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.[27]

In 2014, Salon rated Aerosmith's "Big Ten Inch Record'" as one of the 19 greatest double entendre songs of all time.[28]

References
  1. Mike Greenblatt (January 22, 2015). "Tyler covered 'Big Ten-Inch' Record, but Bull Moose Jackson did it first".
  2. Mike Leadbitter, Neil Slaven (1987). Blues Records, 1943–1970: A Selective Discography. Record Information Services. p. 655.
  3. Michael Ruppli, William R. Daniels (1985). The King Labels: A Discography – Volume 1. Greenwood Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780313251450.
  4. American Popular Music: New Approaches to the Twentieth Century. University of Massachusetts Press. 2001. p. 130. ISBN 9781558492677.("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.")
  5. Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2003). All Music Guide to Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues. Backbeat Books. p. 271. ISBN 0879307366.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Jim White (July 9, 1985). "Flashcats, 'Bull Moose' resurrect R&B oldies". The Pittsburgh Press. p. C5 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Badman Jackson That's Me". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  8. "Ride, Daddy, Ride and Other Songs of Love". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  9. "Risque Blues: The King Anthology". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  10. "The Very Best of Bull Moose Jackson". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  11. "The Bull Moose Jackson Collection 1945–55". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  12. "Toys in the Attic". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  13. Jack Kegg (September 20, 1975). "Jack's Music". The Cumberland News. p. 7.
  14. Cameron Cohick (November 21, 1970). "Review of Aerosmith's Greatest Hits". Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel. p. 22S – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Mark Simmons (August 31, 1975). "Innocence wears off edge of Aerosmith's sounds". The Austin American-Statesman. pp. 4, 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Pandora's Box". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  17. "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits 1973–1988". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  18. "O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  19. "The Essential Aerosmith". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  20. "Sweet Emotion: The Songs of Aerosmith". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  21. "Automatic Overdrive". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  22. "Nightcrawlin'". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  23. "Blue Jobh". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  24. "Burlesque Swing". Allmusic. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  25. "Big Ten-Inch Record, Bull Moose Jackson". Genius.com. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  26. Ed Ward (2016). The History of Rock & Roll, volume one 1920–1963. Flatiron Books. p. 80. ISBN 9781250071163.
  27. Jonathan Kamin (1975). "Parallels in the Social Reactions to Jazz and Rock". The Black Perspective in Music. 3 (3), Autumn 1975): 281. JSTOR 1214013.
  28. Noah Berlatsky (June 28, 2014). "The 19 greatest double entendre songs: From "It Ain't the Meat" to "Let Me Play with Your Poodle," the sneakiest sex songs in the history of music". Salon. salon.com.
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