i heard from a guy who knows a guy that in the early pre abolition days of proto jazz in new orleans, there was a lot of piss taking.
an important social context around the stuff people got up to at the dancehalls had to do with parody, dissembling. i suppose broadly, on the part of wealthier white punters that might be in the sense of appearing to be upholding standards of european finery while getting off on a sexually liberated fantasy, albeit through the repressed signifiers of syncopated rhythms, and on the part of black musicians would have been in the sense of taking the piss out of some of the more european conventions while not letting the same audience catch on.
and so apparently theres this crucial 2 faced, parodic aspect to its development which is overlooked by accounts which only treat the music as an authentic response to struggle, or some fusion of different rhythmic traditions etc.
i mean there was "jelly roll" morton, thats hilarious
in any case the piss taking, insincerity, not quite doing what you say you do in your lyrics, is a big part of most pop music. especially in a more repressed era, dissembling your burning sexual desires through cryptic dance moves and writing songs about your “ding a ling”, secret codes that make your mother blush when she finds out are quite funny ideas.
