dropping the "R"
One of my two current guit-chi therapy songs is the 1992 hit from Linda Perry and her short-lived band, 4 Non Blondes. I was still quite rebellious in 1992 and joined her in praying every day for a revolution. I remain quite rebellious nearly 30 years later, but these days I'm siding more with the Moody Blues that "Revolution is just another gun to do again what has already been done." I still feel a need to rebel against the prostitute conditioning of my childhood, but? ? ? My revolutions keep morphing into just another form of family dysfunctions. Meet my 41 year old crackhead and the *Good Son* whose children were in protective custody on the day of his fatal car wreck. Was it yet another fight with his wife which caused him to be distracted enough to turn in front of that cattle truck? Again I remind myself that I will never know.
As usual, I've painted yet another moustache on yet another Mona Lisa by customizing the lyrics over the course of learning the song. Perhaps the most significant customization in my current psychic fog is losing the "R" on "Revolution."
"I pray every day for an evolution." In praying for evolutions in place of revolutions, I can even believe that my prayer is answered every day in itsy bitsy baby steps. Evolutions are far more subtle than revolutions and they really do happen every day, regardless of the direction of the evolution. A stagnant pond evolves a bit every day, as surely as a child evolves to an adult every day.
Today I leave the mood icon squarely on okay. The covidic insanity still rages **out there** but I'm holding steady through the stormy sees. Just for today. I'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.
Replies
This is a wonderful post, alfie! I too have fond/strong memories of that song. (I've recently discovered a cover of it by Play for Change that is fabulous, you can find it on YT).
Dropping that "R" is something really interesting... and an evolution in and of itself. That's gonna stick with me for a while. And I think I'm gonna listen to this song nice and loud once my son heads off to school.
For me, dropping the "R" carries a double entendre. It might be one of my oldest psycho ticks. I was approaching adolescence before I was able to hold a basic conversation. By that time, I was reading and writing at college levels. To this day, I can read and write ALL of my human languages better than I can or even care to speak ANY of them. Paper doesn't mock you when you need to use a dictionary or pronounce things odd. Words are still not my most trusted form of communication. I treat them more like play pretties than tools to be taken seriously.
In the rigorous speech therapy which enabled me to speak at all, the "R" was the last sound to elude me. My speech therapist grilled me on my "R" sounds for longer than I care to remember. Over the course of her tutelage, my English teacher began returning my writing assignments that were loaded with spelling corrections that were all from dropped R's.
More than half a century later, my hand-written journals and rough drafts are still covered with missing "R's." This would be the very first time in my senior life that I've thought of losing the R as a good thing. Maybe. . . We see what grows.
Looked up the version you were speaking of. I wasn't able to enjoy the versions I found because they are all concert recordings and my hearing weirds go into overdrive when I attempt to interpret concert recordings. In my hunt for a cleaner, studio recording, I bumped into their website and -- I might be in love. Can I play for change, too? Yo, guys, how 'bout some international mixes? I love mixed musical influences.
I theorate that musicians are God's chosen ambassadors. Of course your music isn't as popular in your home country, lazy bones. An ambassador isn't worth much until she/he leaves their home countries.
this morning finds me wondering if the original dropped "r" in this particular psychoweird is the "r" in missus. during those pre-verbal years where i could read and write proficiently, the connection was waaaaay beyond my social skills. it was one of many social yaddahs that befuddled me to just letting the mystery be. 60 years later in the formative stages of my second parenting career, i STILL have trouble connecting "mrs" and "missus." have my foster kids noticed that particular stutter when i attempt to interact at their elementary school?
was the speech therapist who grilled me to phobia about my r's yet another mrs who was highly offended when i attempted the phonetics of mrs? it is logically possible. i don't care to do the research just not, but i'm pretty sure the elementary schools of the early and middle 60's were predominantly proudly married women.
for what it's worth
the etymology of this linguistic snot knot is that "mrs" is actually an abbreviation for "mistress." it wasnae me who dropped that "r."
I don't know Arfie. This post just makes me wonder if i had become a mistress, instead of being faithful wife until the end.......i won't finish my thought :/ Have a good night xoxo
i find great irony in faithful wives abbreviating themselves as, "the other woman." and people call ***me*** crazy?
go figure. . .