Wednesday 6 March 2013

Late Night Listening.

A producer from a local radio station once told me I had the right voice to do a late night jazz show. Well, that was very nice of her – and I said so – but I’ve never been much of a jazz fan. The idea did appeal, however, but it wouldn't be jazz I’d be playing at 3 o’clock in the morning, but this:

  
And if some desperate young woman were to call in and say ‘Play Misty for me,’ I’d be sure to give the maid the next day off before throwing Errol Garner into the mix.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I imagine a late night jazz show personality would have a voice like butterscotch.

I quite enjoy this version of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcSqI1KZiLI

If I had a list of favorite things, "strong male voices singing in harmony" would hover someplace in the top ten.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you really haven't been around for a while. I hope everything's alright.

JJ said...

Try butterscotch without the butter.

Heavens, no! Not Welsh male voice choirs? All chest, ego and indecent volume. Anything but them. (Almost.)

A lot of things are far from right, but I haven't drowned in the swamp yet. Thanks for asking. Do you know that a publisher once refused to read one of my manuscripts because I'd spelt 'alright' like that? That's a bit silly, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Welsh? Absolutely not. They're Irish, haha.

Really? Silly, indeed. I had a professor once that tried to explain the difference between alright and all right to me. I can't remember what she said now though. Oh well.

JJ said...

I know The High Kings are Irish, but the Welsh claim monopoly of 'strong male voices singing in harmony.' It comes from the old coal mining tradition in the South Wales valleys, where 95% of the men had their lungs filled with so much coal dust that they had to find a way of exercising them. Pity poor us, I say, but I'm just prejudiced with a subtle taste in music.

All received opinion has it that 'alright' is simply a modern contraction of 'all right.' 'All right' is still regarded by many as correct, but correctness in English is defined by accepted usage, so what the hell?

Anonymous said...

Ah, I see. I learn something every visit to your blog, it seems.

I do wonder what our coal miners in Kentucky, Virginia, etc. did to exercise their lungs. No, wait, I do know. They did this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEJSbWp9QGc

But since I'm a fan of the old southern sound, I can't complain.

I love that language is ever evolving; it's as alive as we are.

JJ said...

I'll take a look at the link later. For now I'll consider whether I like the Deep South drawl, and how I feel about the encroachment of American idioms into UK English. A lot of people hate it, but I'm a bit liberal on that one.

Anonymous said...

Do you like the drawl of the Deep South, then? I find I do. It's everything my upstate NY accent is not.

JJ said...

It depends who's using it and how. I gather they vary quite a lot from state to state, too. I remember once deciding that I disliked the Texas accent, although I realise that Texas isn't strictly Deep South in traditional terms. From memory, I'd say that I probably find Deep South as black people use it the most attractive.