"I got a woman / Way ...

[Bill Palmer]

My last post on Cedartown GA was based on a hasty reading of LH's mention of
Waycross GA as a town where one might have a girl.  On re-reading, I see it
was meant to be contrasted w/ "way cross town".

However, Hank Snow, in "Miller's Cave", *did* have a girl in Waycross GA.

Bill P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: "I got a woman / Way ...


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "I got a woman / Way ...
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 2:43 AM -0400 6/3/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>_over town_"
>>
>>as Ray Charles sang.
>
> The (I assume later) versions by Elvis, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, et
> al. have "I('ve) got a woman/Way cross town/She's good to me".  Not
> to be confused with Waycross, Georgian.  I guess the main point is
> that she's good to me, wherever she is.
>
> LH
>
>>
>>It's the case that _over town_, which I otherwise know only from Ray
>>Charles's song, is common among local speakers here in the towns along
>>the banks of the Susquehanna in the Wyoming Valley, with reference to
>>going across the river uptown (north) to "The City Square" in
>>Wilkes-Barre, the primary local shopping district. My wife, who never
>>used this phrase in Boston, uses it all the time, now that she's back
>>home.
>>
>>I *still* have no idea what, exactly, Ray Charles had in mind, when he
>>used "(way) _over town_."
>>
>>-Wilson
>>---
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-Mark Twain
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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