Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 20:30:33 -0500

From: Gerald Cohen gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU

Subject: Re: peach-orchard



The latest issue of NADS (Newsletter of the American Dialect Society)

includes a list of queries by DARE. One item is:



"peach-orchard beau, peach-orchard crazy--The first is 'a clandestine

sweetheart,' and the second is

said to mean 'passionate; lascivious.' Why? Does anyone else know

these phrases?"



I suppose this use of peach-orchard derives from the blues song "Peach

Orchard Mama." It can be found in Eric Sackheim's _The Blues Line_

(Schirmer Books), 1975, p. 78.



The lyrics are of course heavy with sexual imagery. Some of them are:



Peach orchard mama, you swore

nobody 'd

pick your fruit but me

Peach orchard mama, you swore

nobody 'd

pick your fruit but me

I found three kid men

shaking down your peaches free

...I didn't want to kill you mama, but I



hate to see your peach-a tree fail

...Peach orchard mama, don't

turn your papa down

Peach orchard mama, don't

turn your papa down

Because when I get mad

I acts just like a clown



Re the last line, in the blues "clown" evidently means "someone

eager/willing to have sex." Cf. the lyrics of Alice Moore's "Three Men",

_ibid._, p.63:



There ain't but three men

who can make a clown of me

...There ain't but three men

who can really make me

fall.



--Gerald Cohen







gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu