Saturday, September 30, 2006

"Talk Memphis"

Jane Ann over at the jetstream has developed a curiosity about the way other "blogging quilters" sound. It is interesting that some people's accents give them away so quickly. I suppose mine is Southern, more so than it used to be. Once when a friend and I were in England, someone asked where we were from and was surprised that we were from the South. I was surprised that it wasn't obvious. My speech has become much lazier over the years...so it isn't just a matter of dialect, ya'll. I'm fixin' to tell ya that there are also huge differences among Southern dialects and intonations. Years ago, I watched a documentary about New Orleans dialects that fascinated me--the area of the city the speaker came from was immediately identifiable from the speech. It was a fascinating piece and listening to the differences between the 9th Ward and the Irish Channel was a hoot. (Yeah You Rite! won several awards)

What most Southern states do have in common is slower speech, less hurried speech. An' , by the way, ya'll...our speech doesn't indicate our intellect or lack thereof. Actually, for some reason, most of the folks in my family did not have this lazy speech in the last generation. My mother's speech and that of my aunts -on both sides of the family - was completely articulated (no dropping a "g" and she was never gonna run two words together) and her grammar much better than that to which my own speech has degenerated. When I was young, Mother corrected many of my bad habits; however, eventually, she gave up trying to reform my speech, but hers was always carefully articulated and grammatically correct.

Anyway, in Jane's recent post, she related an anecdote about her daughter being requested to "talk Southern" and reminded me of one of my favorite songs by Jesse Winchester (I love Jesse).

Talk Memphis (Jesse Winchester)

Listen to you move your mouth
I bet you come from way down South
Please don't tell me let me guess
You're from the town that I love best

Talk Memphis, I wish you would
Talk Memphis, you sound so good
Talk Memphis, high on the bluff
I swear I can't get enough
Listening to you talk that stuff
Talk Memphis, oh yeah, talk Memphis

Now let's discuss some barbecue
We'll talk about the Tigers too
Every little sweet thing that you say
Just turns me on like 'DIA
Talk Memphis, I wish you would

Talk Memphis, you sound so good
Talk Memphis, high on the bluff
I swear I can't get enough
Listening to you talk that stuff
Talk Memphis, oh yeah, talk Memphis

I bet you bought some blue suede shoes
I bet you know West Memphis too
Cross that bridge on just two wheels
I bet you know how good that feels

(repeat chorus)

Where were you when Elvis died
A lot of folks sat and cried
Well, I don't mind telling you
That I did a little cryin too

Talk Memphis, I wish you would
Talk Memphis, you sound so good
Talk Memphis, high on the bluff
I swear I can't get enough
Listening to you talk that stuff
Talk Memphis, oh please, talk Memphis

I refrained from inserting punctuation in the above lyrics. Another great favorite is Mississippi You're on My Mind. I want to put a comma after Mississippi, too, but won't.

I just ordered another Talk Memphis CD because I want to listen to it in the car.

And Deb G. has also taken up the subject of accents in her blog.

9 comments:

  1. Oh, jenclair, my DH is from Memphis and his accent and voice are like honey. (Actually, he sounds quite sexy--over the phone! People have commented on it to me!) Love the lyrics of the song and I will have to look that one up for myself. Though he is 10-1/2 yrs older than I, my husband says "Yes, ma'am" and "No, ma'am" to me, and when he wants me to repeat something, he says "Ma'am?" We giggle about Memphians saying something is "rurnt" when they mean ruined. It's a dead giveaway to roots in the Mississippi River mudflats. He says "warsh", meaning "wash" (and "Warshington, DC"), which drives me nuts. Probably because that's a Kentucky thang and that's where his parents came from.

    My boss is a N'Wawlins gal (grew up near Audobon Park), and after 40 years here it still creeps out "agane" and "agane." I just die when her sister (Lakeview, sadly) comes to visit--it's a cultural experience! I used to worry that television and mobility would eventually erase all our cultural/regional characteristics, so I love hearing identifiable accents. They can be musical.

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  2. I don't mean to beat the subject to death, but a teriffic film that turns up on the Sundance channel sometimes is "Shalom, Y'all." It's just the sweetest, funniest, most fascinating documentary of what it means to be Southern AND Jewish. The filmaker is from Atlanta and he spends lots of footage on his grandparents, who lived in New Orleans. The accents were all so varied and colorful.

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  3. Such delightful lyrics! I'm on my way to iTunes to hear a snippet of this song.

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  4. Interesting. I guess ever city and town has its regional accent. I am from Stephenville, Texas, and our accent is very pronounced. Then, as we are Texans, we don't have Southern, but Texas accents. We speak much quicker, more like my Yankee inlaws.

    When I was a young person I strove to get rid of my Texas twang, but now that I am an older person I wish I had retained more of it!

    Anyway...this was a most interesting blog.

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  5. Jane Ann, I think I'd like to hear your husband's voice - Memphis Honey, huh? Funny which accents we love to hear, and they can certainly be musical.

    I'd love to see "Shalom, Y'all" -- at first, I thought that might be something Kinky Friedman (musician, novelist, running for Governor of Texas)came up with, but I will be checking into Brian Bain.

    Rian, I love the lyrics and the melody. Hope you find it.

    Sioux, actually, it is difficult to tell East Texas accents from North Louisiana accents, but just a bit farther in they begin to take on differences. When I was small, we lived in Beeville, TX...I don't remember anything of those accents. But when we came back from Wyoming, I had some adjustments to make.

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  6. I am bad about "gonna". I really do try to avoid it but boy, is that a hard one to break. I'm gonna stop, really, like I am. (But, it's not as bad as ain't!)

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  7. I find it delightful that there are still regional accents which vary over quite small distances, even now in this day of universal television and radio broadcasting. Long may it last.

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  8. Debra, I rarely even hear anyone use "ain't" except on television. Teachers must have had more influence that they realized! I have to agree that "gonna" is hard to break. "Fixin' to" is another difficult one for me...when I'm even aware of it.

    Omega, you come from a country with distinct regional accents that can then be distinquished even more precisely. It so much spice and interest, but it does present a dilemma doesn't it? Your speech can influence so much including employment and social standing, but how bland it would be to have completely universal speech.

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Good to hear from you!