Peetie Wheatstraw (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941) was the name adop… Read Full Bio ↴Peetie Wheatstraw (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941) was the name adopted by singer William Bunch, a greatly influential figure among 1930s blues singers. Although the only known picture of Bunch shows him holding a National brand tricone resonator guitar, his primary instrument was the piano.

Wheatstraw was born William Bunch in Ripley, Tennessee but grew up in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, where his family relocated soon after his birth. Little is known of his early life, other than that he took up playing both the piano and guitar at a young age.

Bunch left Cotton Plant in 1927 and began living the life of an itinerant musician traveling throughout the Deep South. Like many African Americans of this time period, the great migration eventually drew his attention to the cities of the North. Places such as Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit were favoured destinations, due to the wealth of employment in the factories located in these cities. St. Louis was another city that drew its share of uprooted individuals who sought a better life than that offered by the toil of sharecropping. It was in St. Louis that Bunch landed in 1929.

Having honed his musical talents while travelling, and influenced by the popularity of the Blues duet of pianist Leroy Carr and guitar player Scrapper Blackwell, Bunch found easy work in the clubs of both St. Louis and East St. Louis on the other side of the Mississippi River.

It was around this time Bunch decided to change his name to Peetie Wheatstraw. He also called himself "The Devil's Son-in-Law" and this title is under his name starting with his earliest recordings.

Wheatstraw's self-promotion swiftly paid off as he became a popular performer in East St. Louis, to the extent that he was asked to Chicago in 1930 to partake in recording sessions. He first entered the Vocalion Studios on August 13, 1930, and recorded a handful of numbers which included "Four O'Clock In The Morning" and "Tennessee Peaches Blues". Over the following decade, he would make several such treks, recording over 160 sides for the Vocalion, Decca and Bluebird labels.

Wheatstraw was known for his laid-back approach and adept singing and songwriting, though his instrumental talents were average at best. His songwriting appealed to working class minorities, due to their nature of the content—he often wrote about social issues such as unemployment and public assistance. There were also pieces about the immoral ways of loose women, and true to his own self-publicity, death and the supernatural. Almost all of his songs included his trademark "Ooh, well well", usually accentuated in the third verse, and this has been carried on by many subsequent Bluesmen, most noteworthy today being R.L. Burnside.

On his records Wheatstraw is occasionally heard playing guitar, but he usually took to the piano and required a guitarist to play with him—among his collaborators were Kokomo Arnold, Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Jordan, Charlie McCoy and Teddy Bunn, in addition to pianist Champion Jack Dupree. On some of his last dates, Peetie Wheatstraw recorded within a jazz inspired framework, collaborating with Lil Armstrong and trumpeter Jonah Jones.

Wheatstraw's influence was enormous during the 1930s. Perhaps the most obvious example of Wheatstraw's impact can be seen in the writings of Robert Johnson, often considered the most important Blues figure of the era. Many of Johnson's own recordings were actually re-workings of other popular artists of the time, and he drew heavily from Wheatstraw's repertoire.

Cocktail Man Blues
Peetie Wheatstraw Lyrics

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Cocktail Man Blues Trk 7 Disc 2 2:44
Peetie Wheatstraw (William Bunch)
(Bunch, Smith)
Peetie Wheatstraw - vocal, pno.
July 17, 1935 Chicago, Decca 7144
Album: Peetie Wheatstraw Essentials Album
Allego Classic Blues CBL 200037

Good morning, people
Just got back from cocktail land
Good morning, people
Just got back from cocktail land
When I find my little woman
Ooo-well, we gonna raise some cocktail sand

When I got up this mornin'
Went down in old alley can
I got up this mornin'
Went down in old alley can
And the womens they was hollerin'
Hoo-well, 'Here come that little cocktail man'

They cry, 'Cocktails for two'
Now that is all it can be
Cryin', 'Cocktails for two'
Baby that's all it can be
Now if you got plenty of cocktail
Please save a 'tall' for me

(piano)

I'm a good cocktail monsieur
Well, you know I start it all with a feather
Um-hm, babe said I start it off with a feather
Now won't you come here little mama
Please now let's serve our cocktails together

Well now, it ain't no trouble
When I watch your crowd the best I can
I say, I ain't no trouble
I will watch your crowd the best I can
But now when it come to missing cocktails
Hoo-well, here's a little cocktail man.

Overall Meaning

The song Cocktail Man Blues by Peetie Wheatstraw is a lively and upbeat blues number that celebrates the joys of cocktails and the cocktail culture of the 1930s. The lyrics refer to 'cocktail land', a place where the singer has just returned from and where he plans to take his 'little woman' to raise some 'cocktail sand'. The lyrics are rich in imagery, with references to women calling out 'Here come that little cocktail man' and the cry of 'Cocktails for two'. There is also a playful suggestion of romance in the lyrics, with the singer inviting a 'little mama' to serve cocktails together.

Through the lyrics, Peetie Wheatstraw presents himself as a confident and charming man who knows how to mix a good cocktail and entertain a crowd. He refers to himself as a 'good cocktail monsieur' and boasts of starting off the cocktail culture with a feather, a reference to the tradition of bartenders using a feather to mix drinks. The line 'When I watch your crowd the best I can' suggests that he is a popular figure in the cocktail scene, and that people look to him to provide them with a good time.

Overall, Cocktail Man Blues is an entertaining and lively celebration of the cocktail culture of the 1930s, with its playful lyrics and catchy melody conveying a sense of joy and camaraderie.

Line by Line Meaning

Good morning, people
I am greeting everyone

Just got back from cocktail land
I was at a bar drinking cocktails

When I find my little woman
When I see my girlfriend

Ooo-well, we gonna raise some cocktail sand
We will have a great time drinking cocktails

When I got up this mornin'
When I woke up today

Went down in old alley can
Walked down the alley

And the womens they was hollerin'
The women were shouting

Hoo-well, 'Here come that little cocktail man'
Here comes the little man who loves cocktails

They cry, 'Cocktails for two'
They shout that they want two cocktails

Now that is all it can be
That is the only thing they want

Cryin', 'Cocktails for two'
Asking for two cocktails