Natural-Born Lover : Words

[Wilson Gray]

The fact of the matter is that I'm saying that "get over," in and of
itself, is an idiomatic usage, peculiar to BE, perhaps, that has the
basic meaning, "succeed." Is it really possible, in any dialect of
English, to delete the object of a preposition before any prior
reference has been made to said object? If "get over" is a truncation
of "get over [Some Nominal Phrase Object of the Preposition]." then
there's no way for the hearer to recover that missing information. The
words say only, "I done got over." There's simply no way to know what
the singer has in mind. even if you had all the song's words at hand.

However, if you accept the meaning of "get over," as "succeed," then
what BE terms the "story" of the song is obvious: the singer has
brought himself to pull the chain on a bad relationship, has
successfully recovered from the emotional blowback [sorry!;-)] - no
more crying, etc. - and, since he has put all that behind him, he is
now ready to proclaim
himself once again "a natural-born lover."

FWIW, there's a song with the title, "I've Done Got Over," by Irma
Thomas, who's best known as the writer of "Time Is On My Side," of
which hers is the original recording. The former song opens with the
line, "I've done got over [now, ah] you at last." It's clear that Ms.
Thomas was inspired by Mr. Domino's work - farther along in the song,
she sings of the price of loving the wrong man, obviously a reference
to of Mr. Domino's much earlier work, "Oh, What A Price (I had to pay
for loving you)." However, Ms. Thomas is singing of the pain of
unrequited love and is using "get over" in its standard English meaning
with its usual syntax. The "now" and the "ah" are just syllables thrown
in to make the words match the rhythm of the music.

-Wilson Gray

On Aug 28, 2004, at 8:15 PM, Sam Clements wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Natural-Born Lover : Words
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Wilson,
>
> I'm not a linguist.
>
> My question for you is:  Could Fats not have been saying "I done got
> over
> (you)" with the "you" understood?  Or are you convinced that he was
> saying
> that he "got over" (on) the lady?
>
> Maybe I need to go back and read the thread from the beginning.
>
> I'm now confused as to just WHAT you think Fats was saying in his song.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sam Clements
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilson Gray" <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 3:54 PM
> Subject: Re: Natural-Born Lover : Words
>
>
>> On Aug 27, 2004, at 3:19 PM, Sam Clements wrote:
>>
>>> Subject:      Re: Natural-Born Lover : Words
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>>
>>>
>>>> At 1:15 AM -0400 8/27/04, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>>> I've now listened and relistened to the words of Fats Domino's
>>>>> "Natural-Born Lover" and I hear only:
>>>>>
>>>>> "I done got over at last"
>>>>>
>>>>> and not
>>>>>
>>>>> "I done got over you"
>>>>>
>>>>> or any other possible reading.
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Maybe it's to be taken with "'you' understood", as with
>>>> imperatives...
>>>>
>>>> larry
>>>>
>>> That was my point to Wilson, Larry.  Thanks.
>>>
>>> Sam
>>>
>>
>> Would you provide an example of what you mean from some other dialect
>> of English or from some other language, with more exposition? I must
>> be
>> unusually dense, or perhaps not experienced or educated enough, or
>> just
>> lacking the background to understand what to you is obvious. But it's
>> simply not clear to me what you mean. Your point totally escapes me,
>> though I'm sure - well, I hope that I'll be able to grasp it, if you
>> will provide a broader explication. I really need some help, here.
>> Will
>> you provide it?
>> TIA
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
>