1946
Sugar in the Cane
Composed by 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles Text by 
Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams Blue Mountain Ballads Song Collection
The cycle Blue Mountain Ballads closes with “Sugar in the Cane,” a blending of ragtime and the flatted thirds characteristic of the blues, which perfectly supports the idiomatic text of sexual innuendo.
Audio
“Sugar in the Cane” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Wolfram Rieger (piano)2:07
Text
Sugar in the Cane
by Tennessee Williams
I’m red pepper in a shaker,
Bread that’s waitin’ for the baker.
I’m sweet sugar in the cane,
Never touched except by rain.
If you touched me God save you,
These summer days are hot and blue.
I’m potatoes not yet mashed,
I’m a check that ain’t been cashed.
I’m a window with a blind,
Can’t see what goes on behind.
If you did, God save your soul!
These winter nights are blue and cold!
Related Information
Sheet Music
Blue Mountain Ballads
Paul Bowles
1. Heavenly Grass
2. Lonesome Man
3. Cabin
4. Sugar in the Cane
2. Lonesome Man
3. Cabin
4. Sugar in the Cane