In 1969, an eponymous LP appeared by “Snatch and the Poontangs,” first as a self-release (catalog number SNATCH 101), and later on Kent Records. Given the band’s name and its unabashedly profane and oversexed lyrical content, there was no chance of airplay for the record even in as indulgent a period as the late 1960s. The band was doomed to obscurity until it came to light that Snatch and the Poontangs were in fact the great R&B producer/bandleader/impressario Johnny Otis (credited as “The Hawk”), his gifted guitarist son Shuggie Otis (“Prince Wunnerful”), and vocalist Delmar Evans (“The Mouth”), which made the album a collectible. The misapprehension that R. Crumb drew the cover surely moved a few copies, too, but he did not. The artwork is by Johnny Otis himself.

As bluesy rock of the period goes, the album (there’s a 7” single as well, but it may be a later release, I can’t find information on its provenance anywhere) is fairly unremarkable—buying it because you like Shuggie Otis’ Inspiration Information might be ill-advised, though talented, he was still only 16 when this stuff was recorded—but the outrageous lyrics do the heavy lifting of making the record totally worth it. Check out “Hey Shine,” a ribald re-working of Otis’ classic “Willie and the Hand Jive.” Do I even still need to tell you it’s NSFW at this point?
 

 
The album opens with a lengthy version of the classic “Signifyin’ Monkey,” an American adaptation of an African trickster story. The trio had already recorded it a year earlier for the Johnny Otis album Cold Shot!, and a version would be released by Rudy Ray “Dolemite” Moore only one year later, on his second LP.
 

 
And the audacious album-closer “Two Girls in Love (With Each Other)” is little more than Shuggie meandering on guitar and organ (heh) while two women moan orgasmically.