Southland

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:31 AM -0400 6/13/03, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>This song was sung by Frank Sinatra, I think in the 1950s.
>
>"Birth of the Blues, The"
>
>  Writer(s): DeSylva/Brown/Henderson
>...They took a new note
>Pushed it through a horn
>'Til it was worn
>Into a blue note
>And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
>And gave out the news
>That the Southland gave birth to the blues!

And somehow we never picture L.A. here--whatever else SoCal gave
birth to, it hasn't been the blues.  (Thanks to Ron also for his
intuitions on "fag", "nigger/nigga" and reclamation; his points gibe
with my intuitions on these, and also with some discussions from a
few years ago on OUTiL.  The "queer"/"nigger" comparison is
definitely off-kilter.)

larry