The double entendre in music is almost as old as music itself, but it got a huge boost during the early days of recording when censorship and moral codes cascaded over the country like teams of locust. Since there was a strict prohibition of playing commercial discs on the air, not for the reasons you'd imagine but for reasons of musicians union royalties, the side effect was a loosening of song content, but still mindful of the fact that we were living, for the most part in a pretty puritan society.
One such double entendre song was In The Bushes At The Bottom Of The Garden which, just by the title alone gives some idea of how racy a play on words could be.
The performers are Ray Noble and His Mayfair Orchestra in a recording made in 1932. Noble was a British bandleader and songwriter who became hugely popular in the States in the 1930's and eventually took up residence in the U.S. during the war and lead a number of successful orchestras and performed regularly on the radio.
Probably not with this song though. Once Noble hit the States and became an established songwriter with numerous hits to his credit, the "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" songs were a thing of the past.
Except for tonight of course as we wind up our tour this week of ancient shellac.
