[6] Rainey, previously a minstrel and tent-show singer, quite possibly knew of the broad outline of the number and "Shave' Em Dry" was probably in her repertoire from her earliest professional years.
An earlier ragtime piano tune entitled "Shave 'Em Dry" was copyrighted in May 1917 in St. Louis, Missouri, by composer Sam Wishnuff.
Bogan's original recording of "Shave 'Em Dry" (with Walter Roland (piano) and Josh White (guitar)) appears to be a cleaned up version.
[11] The unexpurgated alternate take has explicit sexual references, a unique record of the lyrics sung in after-hours adult clubs.
[13] In November 1936, Lil Johnson recorded "New Shave 'Em Dry", with Alfred Bell (trumpet) and Black Bob (piano).
Her originally issued recording has the warning: All you keg women, you better put on the wall, 'Cause I'm gonna get drunk and do my dirty talk, The monkey and the baboon playin' in the grass, Well the monkey got mad and whipped his yas, yas, yas, Talkin' 'bout shave 'em, mama's gonna shave 'em dry The more notorious recording, albeit with Walter Roland again accompanying and yelling out encouragement, commenced in a 'dirty talk' manner: I got nipples on my titties big as the end of my thumb, I got somethin' 'tween my legs 'll make a dead man come Rainey's original version appeared on the compilation album Counting the Blues (2001) on TKO Records.
AllMusic noted: The first, a cover of a song by Ma Rainey, is a straightforward blues garnished with traditional references to interpersonal relationships and straight-edged razor blades.
After bragging about nipples as stiff as thumbs and seemingly Olympic bouts of frenzied copulation, Bogan (or Bessie Jackson, as she was then called) conjures up a weird architectural edifice as the man's erect penis poses as a church steeple and his sphincter becomes the portal, through which "... the crabs walks in like people!"
[19] Others who have recorded versions of the track include; Jimmy Yancey, Donald Harrison, Brett Marvin, Dr. John, Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs, Miraculous Mule (on Two Tonne Testimony (2017)), Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and The Dinner Is Ruined.