Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

There are so many levels of sociocultural weirdness involved in this
question that it's hard to disntangle them.

Let's suppose I'm a twentysomething white guy who's trained himself to wail
like Muddy Waters.  Not even an oscilloscope can tell our recordings apart!
Is it weird if

1. I secure performance rights to Muddy's _oeuvres_ and make millions more
than he ever did because so many people want to hear me for whatever reason?

2. I preface all my performances by saying that Muddy was one of the
all-time great talents in American music and I'm nothing but an imitator,
and I still make a fortune?

3. I start writing my own original songs and perform them with my Muddy
voice and guitar style? (Needless to say, I grow richer.)

Is there anything unethical about any of these practices?  Anything just
weird?  What if instead of making millions I'm pretty much ignored? Am I
bad?  Or am I "baaaaaaaaaad"?

What would Socrates say?  Jesus?  Muddy Waters?  Muddy's heirs, who are
getting a cut of my profits?

A puzzlement.

JL
On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 4:13 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"
>              (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 9:46 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I absolutely love
> >> listening to Josh White's versions of "Barbara Allen" and "Foggy, Foggy
> >> Dew".
>
> It was through Josh White that I was introduced such songs as "Molly
> Malone" and I still consider his version of "Waltzing Matilda" to be
> the best.
>
> Are you familiar with the kings of bluegrass, The Stanley Brothers?
> (Of course you are! The question is merely rhetorical.) They cut a
> couple of bluegrass versions of "Finger-Poppin' Time," originally by
> the R&B group, The Midnighters, led by Hank Ballard, the originator of
> the twist. The Brothers don't try to imitate, they originate. True to
> their roots, they turn the R&B song into bluegrass. They don't try to
> make themselves into R&B stylists.
>
> If you aren't already familiar with the two versions, both versions of
> the song are hearable on iTunes. Well, they once were, anyway. With
> iTunes, you can never be sure. Older material - pre-1972, in this case
> - is randomly deleted. If you *really* give a damn, you might try
> searching on YouTube.
>
> --
> -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
>
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