Lil Johnson and Black Bob: Press my Button, Ring My Bell (1932)

 |   |  <1 min read

Lil Johnson and Black Bob: Press my Button, Ring My Bell (1932)

When Anita Ward scored a big disco hit with Ring My Bell in '79, the saucy yet somewhat lyrically bland song was in a long tradition of "ring my bell" metaphors in popular music.

As far back as '32 the raunchy Lil Johnson -- about whom little is known other than her catalogue of songs about sex, getting drunk, sex and more sex -- was singing "press my button, give my bell a ring" and even more graphically "c'mon baby let's have some fun, put your hot dog in my bun".

And this song was even then considered "trad". These barely coded messages about sex had been around since . . . possibly since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden.

In Johnson's catalogue were titles like Anyone Want to Buy My Cabbage, Take You Hands Off It, Buck Naked Blues, Get 'Em from the Peanut Man (Hot Nuts) and the ever popular My Stove's in Good Condition.

Lil Johnson seems to have had a very . . . satisfying? . . . life, and makes Anita Ward (below) sound like she's inviting a gentleman around for tea and cake.

(For more such rudeness, see also Shave 'Em Dry, Bed Spring Poker and the more contemporary All the Things She Said at From the Vaults)

.

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

The Newbeats: I Like Bread and Butter (1964)

The Newbeats: I Like Bread and Butter (1964)

This should come with a consumer warning: It's one of those songs you wake up with nagging away in the back of your brain, the song you can't shake and sticks with you all day. So you have been... > Read more

Bessie Banks: Go Now (1964)

Bessie Banks: Go Now (1964)

Before they found fame in 1967 with their orchestrated pop on the album Days of Future Passed (and the hit single Nights in White Satin), the Moody Blues out of Birmingham, England were just... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Caroline Herring, Lantana (Signature)

Caroline Herring, Lantana (Signature)

To my embarrassment I admit to never having heard of this alt.country singer-songwriter, now onto (I think) her third album. Apparently she won the best new artist award at Austin's South X... > Read more

R.E.M. DOCUMENT REISSUED (2012): The times they were a-changin'

R.E.M. DOCUMENT REISSUED (2012): The times they were a-changin'

On paper, Scott Litt seemed an unlikely choice as co-producer of REM's 1987 album Document. The band were poised to make the great leap forward after the success of Lifes Rich Pageant of... > Read more