ONE OF THE FIRST EXPLICIT SONGS RECORDED

Lucille Bogan, a classic female blues artist from the ’20s and ’30s, is credited with recording one of the first explicit songs with “Shave ‘Em Dry.”

“Shave ‘Em Dry” was recorded on Tuesday, March 5, 1935. The song opens with the risqué lyrics: “I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb, I got somethin’ between my legs’ll make a dead man come, Oh daddy, baby won’t you shave ‘em dry?” Raunchy even by today’s standards.

Bogan, who also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson, recorded over 100 records with her pianist Walter Roland. Bogan’s work mostly focused on explicit sexual themes, like prostitution, adultery and lesbianism, and social ills such as alcoholism, drug addiction and abusive relationships. One of Bogan’s most well known songs was “B.D. Woman’s Blues.” “B.D.” was short for “bull dykes.”

Bogan released her last record, “Gonna Leave Town,” which turned out to be quite a prophetic title, in 1949. The singer died in Los Angeles the year before the single was released from coronary sclerosis. Listen to “Shave ‘Em Dry” below.