[Dixielandjazz] The Peanut Whistle & Stand

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "Keith Garner" <ckg at talktalk.net> wrote (polite snip)
>
>
> In response to my enquiry about the meaning of "knock that peanut  
> whistle
> right off your stand"
>
>
> Dave Richoux wrote
>
> "Knock your peanut whistle right off your stand" is a
>>> metaphor for emasculation. With no whistle, the peanut stand
>>> cannot attract attention.
>
>
> Steve Barbone quoted
>
> "African-American voices were not silent on the subject of evolution
> either. They
> responded with songs like "Evolution Mama," written and performed by
> Eddie Heywood
> and "Doc" Basher, that fell into an early jazz/blues genre. It too
> played on the theme that
> "you can't make a monkey of me," though in this case the protest was
> clearly against
> female romantic control. The voice here is distinctively African
> American, since peanut
> vendors in America were usually African American"
>
>
> My thanks to Dave and Steve for the contributions. I think we are  
> partly
> back in the realm of the US & the UK being divided by a common  
> language.  I
> hadn't thought of a "peanut stand" as a unit where peanuts are sold  
> - to me
> that would be a "peanut stall".  The most obvious meaning to me of  
> stand
> would be as in guitar stand - the thing that I stand my guitar on  
> while I
> play banjo - I couldn't imagine what a peanut whistle was and why  
> anyone
> should want to use a stand to hold it in place.

Dear Keith:

After I posted about the peanut whistle, I though perhaps some folks  
not in the USA might not understand what a peanut stand was.

Basically a push cart, on wheels which the peanut vendor pushed to a  
location on the street or sidewalk in a city. It had a glass enclosed  
section where the peanuts were heated up and/or roasted. A vertical  
whistle (like on a steam train) ran up one corner and the heat or  
steam produced a whistling sound that attracted customers.

In New Orleans the vendors were mainly Black, (while in NYC they were  
usually Italians). There were and still are roasted chestnut stands  
which use a similar process.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband