Barrelhouse Word: bird liver

Cover for calt: Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary. Click for larger imagebird liver
I wanna give you folks a warnin’,
I mean this mornin’,
An’ I want you all to strictly understand:
Now you can call me what you choose, but I’m a bird liver-cravin’ man.
—Sylvester Kimbrough, “Bird Liver Blues,” 1929

An elderly woman; black slang synonymous with hogmeat (Hill). The statement “you can call me what you choose” is put forth with the assumption that the singer will be regarded as a gigolo.

From Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary by Stephen Calt.


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