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Has anyone heard, or does anyone use, this expression, or a variation thereof? What does it mean? I understand it's used in a popular reggae song, but I'm looking for earlier citations or more widespread usage.



The phrase "fattening frogs for snakes" was endemic to the southern Culture of my childhood. My friend "Sonny Boy" Williamson gave the folk saying wider currency with his recording of the same name in 1957. The lyrics explain the meaning...

I found out my downfall in nineteen and thirty eight
Yeah man,
I found out my downfall back in nineteen thirty eight
(I started checking)
I'm telling all my friends I not fattenin' no more frogs for snakes.


Yes, here it is nineteen and fifty-seven and I got to correct all my mistakes
Yeah man, nineteen fifty seven and I gotta correct all of my mistakes
I'm telling all my friends including my wife I not fattenin' no more frogs for snakes.

In other words, keeping up a woman, for other men to use sexually.

I sang this song while Sonny Boy played his harmonica as we rode to a liquor store in the back seat of a '48 Dodge in 1957. Sonny Boy (what a guy) would phone me whenever he visited Birmingham.

Beautiful memories.

"Deadly" Snakes might be the name of a group that later recorded this "Sonny Boy" song.

Last edited by themilum; 09/30/06 12:23 AM.