I wonder if that's not what I call "folk song drift" (there's probably a more formal term for the phenomenon). Every person interprets a song/arranges a song differently, and what I see in folk music is a lot of word replacement/phrase shifting. Sometimes its deliberate and for the best: "Johnny Come Down to Hilo" originally opened with "Never seen the like since I been born, a big buck nigger with his sea boots on." Clearly not appropriate for a modern audience! The Mystic Seaport's chanty men changed the line to "Never seen the like since I was born, an Arkansas farmer with his sea boots on." The meaning is the same, but avoids the inappropriate terminology. Other times it's a matter of the singer remembering a line wrong, or adding a new phrase to an old tune, or even forgetting the lyrics and improvising. I'm not sure what the original line was in Summertime; I know Sarah Vaughan sang: "Oh your Daddy's rich and your Ma's good lookin'", for whatever that's worth. -patty -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 12:26 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Porgy & Bess wasATEG Digest - 1 Sep 2010 to 2 Sep 2010 (#2010-142) In the musical Porgy and Bess, the song Summertime has the line in print "Oh, yo' Daddy's rich and your Mama's good looking." The few times that I have heard Caucasian singers do that line, it was just as written with the exception that Yo' > Your. Virtually time that I heard an African-American sing the song--especially in Charleston--the line went, "Oh, yo Mammy's rich and your Pa is good looking. Is the change class, cultural, ethnic, or what--my in-depth exposure to Charleston was 1975--76. Scott Catledge ************************************************* To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/