Where did the Flash Girls get their name and what does it mean? – by Will Shetterly
I noticed it in the Pratie Heads’ cover of the traditional tune, “Knickerbocker Line,” and thought I might use it in a book. But when Emma and Lorraine were talking about possible band names in an Irish bar in St. Paul, I heard the phrase again: Martz and Menton were singing another traditional song, “House-husband’s Lament (Rocking the Cradle)”, and when they got to the line, “Come all you young men with a notion to marry/Oh, pray, won’t you leave those flash girls alone,” I realized Emma and Lorraine needed the phrase more than I did. And they agreed.
“Flash” is an old bit of British slang. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence, it means “knowing” or “ostentatious.” In context, it suggests one knows a little more than is socially appropriate, and one has a tendency to dress and behave in ways that suggest that’s so. In other words, a flash girl is one who is no better than she should be.
The oldest reference to Flash Girls – by Cat Eldridge
“Flash girls” as a phrase is first found in “The Pills of White Mercury,” the pitiful lamentation of a dying man done wrong by some disease-ridden flash girls. The text of this song was taken from Thomas D’Urfey’s Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719-20). D’Urfey is also the author of “Blowzabella My Bouncing Doxie” — the origin of the name of the English group, Blowzabella.
The Pills of Mercury
(Recorded on ‘Half Ower, Half Ower tae Aberdour’ by Jack Beck. The Tradition Bearers – Scots Songs and Ballads Series LTCD1006)
As I was a walking by the banks of the Ugie,
listen, dear friends, what I have to relate,
who should I spy there but one of my comrades,
wrapped up in white linen, and hard was his fate.O the mercury was beating and the limestone was reeking,
his tongue all in flames hanging over his chin,
a hole in his bosom, his teeth were a closing,
bad luck to the girlie that ga’ed him the glimchorus: And had she but told me when she disordered me,
had she but told me of it in time,
I might have been cured by the pills of white mercury,
but now I am a young man cut down in his primeDown at the street corner, those flash girls were talking,
and one to the other these words she did say,
O there goes that young man who once was so jolly,
but now for his sins his poor body it must pay.O my parents they warned me, and oft times they chided,
with those young lassies do not sport and play,
but I never heeded and scarce ever listened,
but just carried on in my own wicked way.O doctor dear doctor, before your departure,
you’ll throw all these bottles of mercury away,
you’ll send for the minister to say a prayer over me,
before that they lower my poor body to the clay.You’ll get six fine young fellows to carry my coffin,
and six pretty fair maids to bear up my pall,
and you will give each one a bunch of red roses,
so that as they pass by me, they won’t know the smell.
Play Each Morning Wild Queen
The Tracks
Credits
The Fabulous Lorraine, Duchess Of Hazard: vocals, violin
Colonel Emma Bull: vocals, guitar, washboard, spoons
Produced by Adam Stemple
Engineered by Leo Whitebird
Recorded and Mixed July 2000 at P.O.D. Studios, Minneapolis
Digital Mastering by Doug Wilde
Cover Art by Michael Zulli
Photos of the Flash Girls by Lisa Mutch
Photo of Maddy by Lorraine Garland
Fridge Photo by Kelli Bickman
Layout & Design by Chris Ewen
Whiskey Grip: Chris McLaren
Manufactured for Fabulous Records by Noiseland Industries
the Flash Girls 