Shine

[Wilson Gray]

In St. Louis - well, during my childhood and youth there in the '40's,
the '50's, and the early '60's, at least - "shone" was pronounced
[SOn].

Which reminds me. Anybody who's familiar with the programs on Comedy
Central will have noticed that both black males and white males often
address each other as "son." This is a custom of long standing. When I
was a child in Texas, black school kids would often add the mild
"jone": "I don't call you 'sun' because you shine. I call you 'son'
because you mine." That is, in case you don't know who your father is
(because your mother is a whore), I'm your father.

Which reminds me. The late, great Otis Blackwell, best known as a
songwriter for Elvis, was himself a one-hit wonder with the R&B song,
"Daddy Rolling Stone," which opened with the phrase, "I'm Daddy Rolling
Stone." I once saw a guy, clearly a fan of the song, wearing a leather
jacket on whose back he had painted, "_Hum_ Daddy Rolling Stone."
Apparently, even other black people are sometimes unable to understand
the speech of black people.

-Wilson Gray