Canned Heat Blues

DESCRIPTION: "Canned heat ... killing me." "Think alcorub is tearing apart my soul." "Canned heat don't kill me ... I'll never die." "Woke up this morning canned heat was on my mind." "Run in here somebody Take these canned heat blues."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Tommy Johnson)
KEYWORDS: grief drink nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1919 - The Volstead Act estabishes prohibition of "intoxicating liquors" to carry out the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1933 - The 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution ends prohibition.
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Tommy Johnson, "Canned Heat Blues" (Victor V-38535, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Got the Jake Leg Too" (Prohibition alcohol surrogates) and references there
NOTES [80 words]: Three line blues: the first line is repeated -- more or less -- and the last line completes the thought.
"Canned heat" is Sterno -- a cooking fuel -- which contains denatured alcohol [i.e. an ethanol and methanol mix - RBW]. Alcorub is rubbing alcohol. During prohibition they were among the surrogates people drank as a replacement for illegal "intoxicating liquors." Both are seriously damaging poisons. - BS
For more on these alcohol substitutes, see "Got the Jake Leg Too." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: RcCaHeBl

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