Gimme a Reefer - Bessie Smith
Up in Harlem on a Saturday night
When the highbrows get together it's just too tight
They all congregate at an all night strut
And what they do is tut, tut, tut.
Ol' Hannah Brown from across town
Gets full of corn and starts breakin' 'em down
Just at the break of day
You can hear old Hannah say:

Gimme a reefer and a bottle of beer
Send me, gage, I don't care
I feel just like I want to clown
Give the piano player a drink because he's bringin' me down
He's got rhythm, yeah, when he stomps his feet
He sends me right off to sleep
Check all your razors and your guns
We're gonna be a wrasslin' when the wagon comes
I want a reefer and a bottle of beer
Send me 'cause I don't care. Slay me 'cause I don't care

Gimme a reefer and a bottle of beer
Send me, gage, I don't care
I feel just like I want to clown
Give the piano player a drink because he's bringin' me down
He's got rhythm, yeah, when he stomps his feet
He sends me right off to sleep
Check all your razors and your guns
We're gonna shim-sham-shimmy 'till the risin' sun
Gimme a reefer and a gang of gin
Slay me 'cause I'm in my sin. Slay me 'cause I'm full of gin.

BessieSmith02

The official name of this song is Gimme a Pigfoot, but it's clear what Bessie is singing about so I've substituted 'reefer' where appropriate. In the original, Bessie only says 'reefer' in the last verse when she sings "Gimme a reefer and a gang of gin."

Hogeye Bill performs the song by replacing 'slay me' with 'stone me'. Updating another ideom, he substitutes 'sends me off to sleep' to 'sends me off the deep'. Finally, he changes the second "Check all your razors..." line to "Couples get your condoms at the door; We're gonna fuck, fuck, fuck until the rooster crows.

"Gimme a Pigfoot" was originally recorded on November 24, 1933. OKeh 8949. Benny Goodman was in the band, playing the clarinet.