@mattmurfy I read an article in The New Yorker some years ago that was all about the Jake Leg affliction and it's appearance in songs of the time. And everything you said is true. The man who wrote the article has a CD collection of all the Jake Leg songs in his collection for sale.
geofbrit59 thanks for the positive remark - I did check some facts on Wikipedia (admittedly not always reliable) to jog my memory, as I learnt about the Jake Walk from the liner notes of a 2nd-hand LP 25 yrs ago !
Maybe the CD was a re-issue - it was called 'Jake Walk Blues'. Mostly hokum, but it did have some good no.s by Lemuel Turner and 'The Black Ace'. The only thing I miss from LPs - the liner notes and cover art. Just not the same with CDs or thumbnails and 'details' on mp3s ...
Jake-a Jamacian extract (sold as medicina in the 1920's. It was popular because it had 70% alcohol and could skirt the laws against drinking and taxes. In 1930 the people who made it added a cheap but toxic chemical to water it down. This caused spinal damage giving people a form of paralysis- the jake walk.
Actually, it was only one company that added the adulterant - though it affected 30-100,000 people before the authorities stopped its use. The govt. was mostly concerned about the alcohol content, so stipulated, and tested for a certain volume of ginger in the tonic, making it very bitter. The cheap, thick, colourless additive; TOCP was actually an organophosphate (like dioxin). So the purpose wasn't so much to water it down (which rather defeats the purpose with hard drinkers !) as add a filler
Watchin' Ken Burns' "Prohibition" gets a man to researchin'. Bye now.
miller8037 4 months ago
@miller8037 Yes, I saw it too. They even did a bit on the Jake Leg!
geofbrit59 4 months ago
do they use a goddamn kazoo? they're the shit.
partyhardydardy 5 months ago
@partyhardydardy It's hard to hear on this old disc but yes they do blow the kazoo.
geofbrit59 5 months ago
@mattmurfy I read an article in The New Yorker some years ago that was all about the Jake Leg affliction and it's appearance in songs of the time. And everything you said is true. The man who wrote the article has a CD collection of all the Jake Leg songs in his collection for sale.
geofbrit59 1 year ago
geofbrit59 thanks for the positive remark - I did check some facts on Wikipedia (admittedly not always reliable) to jog my memory, as I learnt about the Jake Walk from the liner notes of a 2nd-hand LP 25 yrs ago !
Maybe the CD was a re-issue - it was called 'Jake Walk Blues'. Mostly hokum, but it did have some good no.s by Lemuel Turner and 'The Black Ace'. The only thing I miss from LPs - the liner notes and cover art. Just not the same with CDs or thumbnails and 'details' on mp3s ...
mattmurfy 1 year ago
@mattmurfy I dug up the artical. New Yorker magazine Sept.15,2003 by Dan Baum.
Google him.
abrownadoptables 1 year ago
Jake-a Jamacian extract (sold as medicina in the 1920's. It was popular because it had 70% alcohol and could skirt the laws against drinking and taxes. In 1930 the people who made it added a cheap but toxic chemical to water it down. This caused spinal damage giving people a form of paralysis- the jake walk.
mashtones 2 years ago
Interesting, you think they would just water it down with......well, water.
riothero313 2 years ago
Actually, it was only one company that added the adulterant - though it affected 30-100,000 people before the authorities stopped its use. The govt. was mostly concerned about the alcohol content, so stipulated, and tested for a certain volume of ginger in the tonic, making it very bitter. The cheap, thick, colourless additive; TOCP was actually an organophosphate (like dioxin). So the purpose wasn't so much to water it down (which rather defeats the purpose with hard drinkers !) as add a filler
mattmurfy 1 year ago