'Flesh-colored' in John the Conqueroo column

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Not to get all PC on Cecil’s, um, tuckus, but I’m having a little trouble interpreting

in the column “What is the “John the Conqueroo” made famous by blues Singers?”
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_318.html

‘yellow’ and ‘purplish’ I understand, but ‘flesh-colored’ seems a little ambiguous, especially considering this is about ‘southern American black folklore’.

Heck, this is from 1973, so for all I know ‘flesh-colored’ means ‘painted with multi-colored day-glo peace signs, spirals and paisleys’

I realize that in those trying times Cecil was no doubt distracted by his rigorous attempts to dispell the myth that LSD causes chromosome damage, but perhaps in the interest of clarity, Ed may dare Cecil’s wrath and get all revisionist on this column.

I’m just thinking of all the poor would-be voodoists wandering confused through the woods trying to find St John’s wort using this description.

WON"T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE VOODOISTS?

2

First, folkses (Cecil & all)…it’s “John-the-Conqueror ROOT!” Since blues vocalists were never great at enunciation (there are still unsttled debates as to the lyrics of Charley Patton, e.g.) at some point it was misheard as, and written down (and presumably published) as “…Conqueroo.” This probably wound up on a lyric sheet or a blues fake book…and was assumed to be correct by folks who knew no better!

Second…as far as 1973, I vuz dere, Sholly! Although what we wore, and any tattoos we chose to acquire, covered even colours NOT in the rainbow…our skin colours stayed in the same range (between a very light off-pink and a very dark brown) as did our flesh colour (red). I suspect that in the floral description “flesh-coloured” means an orangish pink, which was in the larger Crayola® sets as “Flesh” until no too long ago (and which we used to colour in faces in our colouring books).
Steven C. Barr