Busting My Conk

New York Confidential (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1951)

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are about 500 apartments in Harlem, known as "tea pads," set up exclusively for marijuana addicts.  They are darkly lit, the colors are usually deep blue, there is a juke box or victrola with the jumpiest of jive records. An insidious incense pervades the stuffy air; windows are always closed.  The walls are usually scrawled with crude nudes and pornographic sketches.

 

Here gather the reefer smokers for their "binge." (p. 118)
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New York Confidential is filled with nuggets like this, but my favorite part of the book is Appendix E: Glossary of Harlemisms. 

 

This is where one learns that a "bree" is "a gal," "fews and two" is "very little money," and "bust your conk" means "to apply yourself diligently."

 

But that's not the last word on "bust your conk."  I wanted more. 

I consulted a second source, Robert S. Gold's A Jazz Lexicon. 

 

A Jazz Lexicon (Alfred A. Knopf, 1964)

You dig, Jack? 

 

I was so beat up after busting my conk, I had to truck over to my cubby for some cups.