What is a C. C. Rider, that you can hear legendary artists sing about. (Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, that old, dead woman singing right now on the radio, and, I’m sure, et al.)
From Wiki:
Thank you. Much appreciated.
(It annoys me that I did a search on Wikipedia before I created this thread on SDMB, it reinforces my impression that I have a slight search disorder. Thanks for helping me out.)
Wiki’s conclusion seems dubious. The song was originally written in the early 20’s, before the depression and the era of “riding the rails”. Not to say it wasn’t done before the depression, but it didn’t gain an idenity until the late 20’s, early 30’s. My father left home in 29 or 30 and road the rails from Ohio to Texas and back. He was gone about 4 months. learned a life lesson, and returned to finish HS as president of his class.
The song is attributed to Gertrude “Ma Rainey” Pritchard, who was overtly homosexual, although married. She was a blues singer and I would guess that it was, a now obscure, reference to her relationships w/ women.
I was hoping I could find a better cite, but was unsuccessful.
In pre-automobile times, there were “circuit riders” who would make the rounds of towns and villages on horseback to provide services that were not needed full time. The circuit riding preachers would do marriages, christenings, and such, when they rode through. The County Circuit judges would deal with wills, lawsuits, birth records, etc. before moving on.
Travelling musicians, too, would ride the chitlin’ circuit, making a little money before the townsfolk had heard all their songs.
Naturally, all these folks had some temporary romances along the way. So, the song’s rider could have been any of these travellers.
Here’s a little tangent of folklore. The Sarvisberry tree supposedly got that name because it bloomed (or bore berries) about the time that the snow melted enough for the circuit riding preacher to come around to perform “sarvises”, services in the spring. Sarvisberries are a lot like blueberries, but they’re red.
I’ve read a discussion of this on The Mudcat Cafe, a site devoted to folk and blues music. Several apparently false theories were dismissed, including at least one of those mentioned above. The conclusion, which I believe was well supported, was that it’s a corruption of “easy rider,” slang for a prostitute’s boyfriend who gets his lovin’ for free. I can come up with the cite later, or those who don’t care to wait can go to the Mudcat and find it with their built-in search feature.
It’s almost certainly a reference to easy rider, which when the song was written was a reference to a man/woman who was a skillful lover and made all the right moves.
From the OED:
Just why the writer made it “C. C.” I don’t have a clue. Perhaps to make it fit the rhyme of the song, or perhaps to slip it past a potential censor. Just guessing on those.
Here’s a link to the discussion on the Mudcat: What does ‘CC Rider’ mean? Note particularly the entry by annamill, about halfway down.
Thank you all, very interesting.