"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.