Snoh Aalegra Sweet Tea (2023)
“That sweet tea ain’t sweeter than you, boy,” sings Snoh Aalegra in her love-struck, 90s-reminiscent ballad. Especially when delivered in Aalegra’s stunning soul vocals, that line is guaranteed to sweep anyone off their feet.
However, for all of those not blessed with the same talents as the Iranian Swedish-born singer but still looking to make an impression, might we suggest the more creative line, “the only thing sweeter than you is molasses-covered Boston in 1919”?
See, in 1919, there stood a great tank of molasses in the harbor of Boston. The tank was owned by a distilling company who used the molasses to produce ethanol, and with a diameter of 90 feet [27.4 m] and a height of 50 feet [15.2 m], it was one big boy.
One day in January, some new molasses was added to the tank. This new molasses was a lot warmer than the been-stored-in-the-cold-wintery-Boston-tank molasses, and so the contents of the tank warmed up, expanded – and the Big Boy burst.
A big, slow-moving, all-destroying wave of molasses was thus sent down the streets of Boston: Buildings were swept off their foundations, the rush of air alone when the tank burst "hurled debris through the sweet-smelling air" according to the Boston Globe, and whoever couldn’t outrun the wave got stuck waist-deep in the sugary goo.
The Great Molasses Flood injured 150 people and even killed some, with the Red Cross, the Boston police and the military all working to rescue everyone as fast as they could.
The clean-up afterwards (using sand and salt water) took weeks, and the Boston harbor remained brown with molasses until the summer. For years afterwards, the area still smelled of molasses on hot days.
In retrospect, this is maybe a story best saved for a second date. Let’s just leave the charming opening lines to the queen of sweet-talking Snoh Aalegra herself, shall we?
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