Bob Muller said,
<And I was so sure my old vinyl
"Hejira" had the word printed as "fey." If someone out there still has an
original vinyl copy of "Hejira," could you please check it? <
"Still" has an original vinyl copy? *Still*, Muller? Are you implying that
vinyl is dead Bob? AGAIN!? :) Anyway.....
<clears throat>
I now have an opportunity to brag on my record collection. Yes, I *still*
have an LP of "Hejira". As a matter of fact, *mine* is a promo copy.
Da-na-na-na.... na! :)
Anyway, the cover is more than four times the area of a CD cover, glossy,
and sports detail not visible in smaller versions. The title and artist's
name are embossed. And the LP was pressed from an analog master- it was
never digitized in those pre-digital days.
< begin sarcasm mode> Too bad I don't have one of those *superior* CD
copies! <end sarcasm mode>
(Have I annoyed everyone yet? Okay! I'll get to the point!)
The relevant section begins with "Furry", rumored to be character drawn from
a real life blues man (named "Fury", right gang?)
Anyway, Joni's imaginary character, "Furry" is about to speak,
[[
He points a bony finger at you and says,
"I don't like you"
Everybody laughs as if it's the old mans standard joke
But it's true
We're only welcome for our drink and smoke
W.C. Handy I'm rich and I'm fay
And I'm not familiar with what you played
But I get such strong impressions of your hey day
Looking up and down old Beale Street
]]
That's the way it's typed onto the inner cover of the (obviously superior!)
LP version of the album. But I noticed a few things. The punctuation is
kinda mangled in places. Now I'm really horrible about punctuation but IMO,
there should be a period in "Furry's" quote. In the third line, the word
"mans" (sic) is possessive so there should be an apostrophe. When she
addresses W.C. Handy's memory maybe there should be a comma after his name.
Anyway, I went into all of this detail to prove that the printed lyric for
"Furry Sings The Blues" has several little flaws. It would only be a short
stretch to guess that someone along the way meant "fey" and typed "fay" on
the sleeve, assuming they all knew the difference. (I certainly didn't!)
Lama
BTW, I was wrong in my previous post where I asserted that Joni's guessing
what "Furry" thinks of her. She's guessing what W.C. Handy, (long gone)
would think of her. For a picture of William Christopher Handy see
http://www.jass.com/Others/wchandy.html
