Sorry, I didn't read "call attention" quite that way.

On Sep 3, 2010, at 1:55 PM, Craig Hancock wrote:

> Ed,
>     That would be the call attention part, which I didn't give an  
> example for, but yours works well. I agree that it's cross racial.  
> The ritual greeting I THINK is black influenced.
>
> Craig
>
> Edgar Schuster wrote:
>>
>> When I was a kid in Philadelphia we would sometimes stand outside  
>> of a friend's house and yell, "Yo, Eddie," until the friend came  
>> out to play baseball or football, whichever season was on.  So it  
>> isn't just for ritual greetings, Craig, or at least it wasn't some  
>> 60 years ago.
>>
>> Ed S
>>
>> On Sep 3, 2010, at 11:44 AM, Craig Hancock wrote:
>>
>>> Patricia,
>>>     The song was actually written by Gershwin (the music) in  
>>> deliberate attempt to compose something that would sound like a  
>>> folk song. This is from Wikipedia:
>>> Musicologist K. J. McElrath wrote of the song:
>>>
>>> "Gershwin was remarkably successful in his intent to have this  
>>> sound like a folk song. This is reinforced by his extensive use of  
>>> the pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) in the context of the A minor  
>>> tonality and a slow-moving harmonic progression that suggests a  
>>> “blues.” Because of these factors, this tune has been a favorite  
>>> of jazz performers for decades and can be done in a variety of  
>>> tempos and styles."
>>>
>>> The lyricist (Dubose Heyward) wrote the novel (Porgy) on which the  
>>> play is based. He would have attempted to write it "in  
>>> character" (his attempt at a black southern dialect of the time.)
>>>
>>> When I was first learning jazz guitar, it was one of the first  
>>> songs I learned, and I have come back to it time and again because  
>>> it has been done so well in so many different ways with so many  
>>> nuances. As i grow as a musician, the song accomodates that very  
>>> well. Like many performers, though, I wouldn't presume to sound  
>>> like a black woman and use what comes natural to me--"yur", which  
>>> would rhyme (in my dialect) with "fur" and "stir".
>>> Up north now, "yo" is used to call attention or in ritual  
>>> greeting, as in "Yo, 'sup?" for "hello, what's up?"
>>> Craig
>>>
>>> Patricia Lafayllve wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 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
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