Easy rider is an archaic United States slang expression whose meaning has varied with time. History Origins Easy rider originally meant an expert horseman or a horse that was easy to ride. 1900s In the early 1900s the term took on the meaning of freeloader as found in the old song "We Don't Care What Mr. Crump Don't Allow", based on "We Don't Care What Mama Don't Allow": Mr. Crump won't 'low no easy riders here, Mr. Crump won't 'low no easy riders here, We don't care what Mr. Crump don't 'low, We goin' to bar'l-house anyhow— Mr. Crump can go and catch hisself some air! "Easy rider" in blues came to denote a lover, male or female. If it refers to a man, it usually implies he is unscrupulous, is a prostitute's lover and lives off her earnings. It can also mean a male lover whose movements are easy and satisfying. To the easily titillated, the term referred to a woman who had liberal sexual views, had been married more than once, or someone skilled at sex. The term appears in numerous blues lyrics of the 1920s and many popular early folk-blues tunes such as "See See Rider", first recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924, and later recorded by Lightnin' Hopkins when with Aladdin Records. Early uses of the term include the 1925 jazz recording by Johnny Bayersdorffer's Jazzola Novelty Orchestra entitled "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Riding Now" (later covered by Mae West) and "Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here" in 1929 by Tampa Red. Great Depression During the Great Depression a large population of Americans driven by poverty rode the railroad system and the term easy rider (along with hobo and bum) found its way into slang vocabulary to mean a slow moving train and the men that, even after the great depression, continued to live and travel along the rails. The majority of these trains, commissioned in the early 1920s, had the letters C.C. (for Colorado Central) or S.C. (for Southern Coastal) stenciled on them in bold white letters. This is most likely where the term C.C. rider originated. World War II In the World War II era the slang term re-emerged with a modified meaning, where G.I.s on extended deployment in Asia or Europe (unofficially) employed children to perform the daily mundane tasks so common in the military like tending to barracks, shining