I heard Susan Werner at The Point a couple of days ago. In addition to material from her thoughtfully-named CD I Can't be New, she did some other songs, one of which shocked me. Morphosyntactically and psycholinguistically, that is.
Here's the story. Back in December, responding to a question from Rosanne at the X-bar about sentences like "She is such the smart girl", I remarked that "I certainly don't think I ever say or write things like that, and I don't have any memory of having heard or read them either." Of course, a little internet search turned up plenty of convincing examples. My conclusion: "Live and learn".
What took me aback on Friday at Susan Werner's gig in Bryn Mawr was a line in her performance of Much at All, a song that was on her 1995 CD Last of the Good Straight Girls. I know that I've heard her perform it live at least once, probably in 1996 or so, and I'm sure that I've heard it on the CD several times since then. In fact, it's a song I know well enough that I can recognize it after hearing a few bars.
I like the sound of quiet with my coffee
I like the look of nothing on the wall
I like to read myself what's in the morning paper
I guess that I don't miss you much at allI never shared your passion for the city
I never really cared for basketball
I seem to get along without the new New Yorker
I guess that I don't miss you much at allBut oh the days when we were lovers
Such the electric pair
Doomed in a way like all the others
Classic affairs are rare and fleetingI must have missed the changing of the seasons
Well I've seen enough of New England in the fall
I've seen enough of anywhere we were together
I guess that I don't miss you much at allDoomed in a way like all the others
Classic affairs are rare and fleetingI'm staring out the window in the kitchen
I'm leaning on the railing in the hall
I'm trying for the life of me to do some livingIt's good how I don't miss you much at all
Memory is a funny thing, isn't it?
Posted by Mark Liberman at April 12, 2004 08:03 PM