musical, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

musical adj.

used of a horse that suffers from respiratory problems.

1908

‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When They Sigh’ Sporting Times 15 Feb. 1/3: But the cab-horse was a roarer, and the slowest of blood-stock, / And the fare said to the cabby, ‘That’s a musical old crock!’.

In compounds

musical fruit (n.) (also music fruit, musicos)

any fruit or vegetables, esp. beans or Jerusalem artichokes, that produce flatulence.

1919		G.W. Small Story of the 47th 75: We played marbles on the deck with ‘music fruit’ and rolled our eyes around like a dying calf when we lost our ‘stake’ [HDAS].
1934		A. Halper Foundry 172: BEANS! That Musical Fruit!
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Musicos, beans.
1962		(con. 1940s) G. Mandel Wax Boom 125: Somebody farted. Men laughed [...] ‘Beans, beans, the music fruit, the more you eat the more you toot.’.
1974		Sanford and Son [NBC-TV] Beans, beans, the musical fruit [HDAS].
1988		M. Atwood Cat’s Eye (1989) 125: Pork and beans the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot.
2000		R. Ehrlich ‘The knowledge’ Guardian 9 Sept. 🌐 Beans, beans, the musical fruit. Simmered at great length with bacon, herbs, and tons of garlic.