I performed in a concert tonight and after I had done a couple of songs, I brought out the flute, and I was a little winded and a little nervous, so when I started to attempt the opening Low D of Londonderry Air, just a hiss came out. I laughed and people laughed with me, and I tried again and the same thing happened.
So I said, “I’m really good at home in the bedroom!”
Oh my god! I added quickly “I mean playing the flute.” Everyone laughed and that broke the ice and then the notes came out as they were supposed to.
Thanks, Sandy. I listened to the sample track on your website today and really enjoyed it. The whistles sound lovely.
At the end of the concert tonight, an 82-year-old man (he told me his age) told me that he was just starting to learn an instrument - a recorder! I’ll not have that! I got his address and told him I’d get a whistle to him!
Once in high school I was reading
aloud in front of the
class an account of
Lady MacBeth:
‘She arose and
threw on her robe…’
I read:
‘She arose and threw off her
robe.’
The teacher said:
‘It wasn’t a robe. It was a
Freudian slip.’
The mafia had a half-price special
for contracts on English teachers
that year. I had a pretty
lucrative after-school
job. Maybe I didn’t; maybe I did.
In the 8th grade we were studying the causes of the Civil War, one of which was called “sectionalism,” which was the term describing how the south became a different culture from the north. When the teacher asked me to read out of the book, somehow the word became “sexualism.” I was mortified.
My husband reminded me of a little story I will share.
We were asked to be the featured guests at a Folk guild coffee house. As is the tradition here, we were not allowed to use any electrical equiptment, no mic’s, amps, nothing. I had intended to use the acoustic piano but the man who hired us convinced me that it would be all right if we used my electric piano (I suspected his piano was untuned) After much discussion, my husband convinced me to use our piano because the last folk club locked theirs and we had to get our bass player to take it apart (another story).
Anyway, I set up the keyboard and teased the audience that it was all right because we were using organic chords, this got them on our side and things were looking pretty good.
It came time for me to sing an original song that I wrote called “I believe” I told the audience how after I wrote this song everything went wrong in my life, house fire, car dying, getting laid off and my personal favorite divorce, all in a few months span. Then I proceeded to sing the song. Just as I got to the chorus “I BELIEVE” My keyboard died. Dead. Nothing. I gave the fiddler a solo and told the audience “I believe I can fix this!!” I tried all the knobs, chords, everything. No go, DEAD!!! The solo was coming to an end, I looked at the audience and said “You folk guys really take this acoustic stuff seriously!” They laughed and I ran to the acoustic piano. I shook my fist up at the church hall ceiling and yelled “have it your way!” The crowd cheered and I started to sing “I BELIEVE” again.
From then on they were ours!
In two weeks we are doing another folk club and my keyboard will stay at home.
On 2002-10-13 22:49, JohnPalmer wrote:
Actually, a spoonerism would be more like this, where you turn “a well-oiled bicycle” into “a well-boiled icicle.” There are lots of spoonerisms.
JP
Here’s a nearspoonerism:
Better a free bottle in front of me
Than a prefrontal lobotomy
Does the capital in ‘Than’ mean that I think this is poetry? I hope not.
The Freudian Slip Jig was mentioned as a fun tune title on another thread not long ago. Apparently there is more than one tune of that name. Anyone know if they’re available on line? (Sorry, I should search for it myself, but am lazy and am just closing down the PC to go and watch “Coupling” on BBC TV).
I remember Neil Brock of c & f fame writing and posting a tune called Freudian Slip Jig. I printed out back then and played it a few times: fun but it didn’t stick. You’ll have to run the search yourself, though.
