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His Eye Is on the Sparrow 90: Now Speedy was short and stout, and I, being a long, lean, and lithesome stringbean, was not at all interested in his suggestion that we have a Mutt and Jeff type of romance.at mutt and jeff, n.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 90: Now Speedy was short and stout, and I, being a long, lean, and lithesome stringbean, was not at all interested in his suggestion that we have a Mutt and Jeff type of romance. His Eye Is on the Sparrow 166: Mose was head foot-kisser on Bailey’s staff, but he was one of my own people. And he was taking sides against me.at ass-kisser, n.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 22: These kids [...] accepted me as an equal, not only because I was hep and so big for my age, but because they were awed by my atomic delivery of the King’s profanity.at atomic, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 147: When he doesn’t play good for me I say, ‘Fletch, stop playing that B.C. music of yours.’ [...] What I referred to was the way he played so long ago that it seems to have been before the earth was discovered.at B.C., adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 243: On hearing the good news, we told McClintic of Ruth’s amazing prophecy. She had batted one thousand per cent in describing Guthrie McClintick.at bat a/one thousand (v.) under bat, v.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 161: On opening night [...] he left two lights burning, spoiling the whole effect of my radium dress [...] I sure pitched a bitch with that electrician.at pitch a/the bitch (v.) under bitch, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 130: I not only was able to please that brass-knuckle crowd of regulars but began to draw the sporting men and downtown white people.at brass-knuckle (adj.) under brass, n.2
(con. c.1900) His Eye Is on the Sparrow 3: There was a saying used then when anyone wanted to ask if a girl was a virgin. They would say, ‘Is she broke in yet?’.at break (someone) in (v.) under break, v.1
song perf. 1920s in His Eye Is on the Sparrow 131: Some men like me because I’m happy, / Some because I’m snappy. / [...] / Others tell me, ‘Mama you look / Like you’re built for speed’.at built for speed (adj.) under built, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 211: Dr. Horsford still thought I should risk the operation. [...] This particular operation, he said, had never been performed before. I decided I’d let God call the turn this time.at call the turn (v.) under call, v.
(con. c.1920) His Eye Is on the Sparrow 135: This Last of the Red-Hot Mammas [i.e. Sophie Tucker] was then called a ‘coon shouter,’ an expression whose passing from the common language none of us laments.at coon shouter (n.) under coon, n.
(ref. to 1921) His Eye Is on the Sparrow 141: My first [record] was made for the Cardinal Company [released 1921] and had ‘New York Glide’ on one side, ‘At the New Jump Study Ball’ on the other. You’ll find Bojangles Robinson’s favorite word—copesetic—in the ‘Jump Study Ball’ lyrics. I’d heard it all over the South.at copacetic, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 147: Fletcher [Henderson] wouldn’t give me what I call ‘the damn-it-to-hell bass,’ that chump-chump stuff that real jazz needs.at dammit to hell (and back)! (excl.) under damn it!, excl.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 53: [S]he was already pregnant [...] She had been doing everything possible to conceal her condition from her ‘dicty’ parents.at dicty, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 115: Rocky turned out to be a three-letter man as a junker. He took C, H, and M. In dopehead language C means cocaine, H heroin, and M morphine.at dopehead (n.) under dope, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 175: One critic called me ‘the ebony Nora Bayes.’ [...] Nora Bayes was one of the most popular of the white vaudeville singers.at ebony, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 81: The beer bottle hit me right in the center of the forehead. A big egg jumped out of my head, and the bottle bounced off and broke into pieces.at egg, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 96: There was one kid chauffeur who was so flattened by my s.a. that he came around three nights in a row to invite me out for a drive in his white boss’s car.at flatten, v.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 82: That is the gang-up. Men like those put you to sleep with their drops. Then one man after another goes in and takes you.at gang, n.2
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 144: The salesman got pale as milk. Other salesmen and the owners of that gyp joint all came running over to his rescue.at gyp joint (n.) under gyp, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 149: That was the great time of ‘drags’ in Harlem. [...] One night I lent my black velvet dress, trimmed with ermine, to one of these he-she-and-what-is-it types. But he got to fighting with his ‘husband’ at the affair and was locked up in a cell.at he-she, adj.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 93: My biggest surprise of all has been the reaction of white people [...] when I tell them I’ve never minded even slightly being a Negro. [...] It’s difficult to convince them that I [...] am not just keeping a stiff upper lip and being brave and gallant. Keeping a stiff upper lip, hell!at hell!, excl.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 118: [H]e had a broken jaw. He’d been caught, he said, ‘lifting a hide’ from a man’s pocket and the man had socked him.at hide, n.
(con. 1919) His Eye Is on the Sparrow 139: [W]e show girls were forced to live in whore houses in each town, no other accommodations being available [...] [T]the management would register our names with the police so the cops [...] would know we weren’t ‘house girls.’.at house girl (n.) under house, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 207: They were making fun of him, ‘the papa,’ believing that I, ‘the mama,’ must have been playing house with somebody who didn’t even have a sun tan.at play house (v.) under house, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 150: One night I lent my black velvet dress, trimmed with ermine, to one of these he-she-and-what-is-it types.at it, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 79: Even while I was listening to their compliments I would be thinking, ‘If I meet this John walking with his sister tomorrow morning, he won’t even say ‘Hello!’ to me.at john, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 16: Any of us slum children could smell out a cop even though he was a John, a plain-clothes man.at john, n.1
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 121: He prepared dope and joy-banged himself right in front of me.at joy bang (n.) under joy, n.
His Eye Is on the Sparrow 255: [We] played on Broadway into the following March. Then we jumped to Los Angeles and closed in San Francisco.at jump, v.
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