"St. John The Conqueroo" And "Stavin' Chain"....... A Little Long

....... If you've ever heard "Hoochie Coochie Man" by the great Willie Dixon and "Winin' Boy" by Jely Roll Morton respectively, you may have wondered about those two phrases in the topic line respectively. Let's take "St. John....." first: Here's an explanation of what it is, followed by the tune.....

A "John the Conqueroo," also known as a "High John de Conquer," is the root of the St. John's-wort plant. In southern American black folklore, this root is used to cast or break evil spells--thus all the references to "root rubbing" in blues songs.
John the Conqueror, as the tale goes, was an African prince who was sold as a slave in the Americas. Despite his enslavement, his spirit was never broken and he survived in folklore as a sort of a trickster figure, because of the tricks he played to evade his masters. 'Br'er Rabbit' of the Uncle Remus stories is said to be patterned after High John the Conqueror.

Where do you get one? Look around--the St. John's-wort (any one of 25 Hypericum species) is common to the Northern Hemisphere.   Look for an herb with yellow, flesh-colored, or purplish flowers; there are usually five petals on each flower. Hypericum shrubs generally have cylindrical seeds and clustered stamens.

By the way, if someone casts an evil spell on you with a John the Conqueroo, you might be able to counteract the spell with a Jack, a red cloth shaped in a cylinder and filled with dirt, coal dust, and a silver dime.Taken from Mosaic ®
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Here's Willie Dixon's great tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSc3wM8fakk

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"Winin' Boy" ------Q: What does Winin' (Winding) Boy mean? In the same song,   what is a Staving Chain? Picking it up and shaking it?         

Both Win(d)ing Boy and Staving Chain were nicknames suggesting sexual prowess. Winin' Boy, the song, comes again from Jelly Roll Morton, the   same session at which he recorded Mamie's Blues. From http://tafkac.org/songs/what_is_a_jellyroll_more.html           (Graphic language on this site. Be careful) The Windin' Boy is a boy who can execute deft motions with his pelvis, (sounds like Elvis Presley...). See also the discussion of "Jellyroll," the first song on Steve's "Live and Pickin'" CD. This would seem like a man"s song, but Janis Joplin had no problem singing it as well. Just a great bragging, bluesy tune. "Stavin' Chain" (or more properly "Stave 'n' Chain") was a legendary (possibly real) late 19th century strong man who worked on the railroad and was known for his large "stave." (This from the same site above, which is apparently not on the world-wide web, but is on the internet. Taken from Steve Mann's, site "Mann Made" ®

And the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_habuNif_E4

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Bill