[Ads-l] Antedating of "Blue Note"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Possibly named merely for a note written on blue paper:

[1893 _Salt Lake Herald_ (June 20) 5: Beaulah and Blue Note shot under the
wire, head and head, making a dead heat between them.]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I read the U.C. "blue notes" as 'sour notes,'
not 'blues notes.'  Did Sousa ever employ "blue notes," esp. ep early?

JL

On Fri, Jul 4, 2025 at 8:06 PM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> blue note (OED 1895 [10 Dec.])
>
> 1895 Examiner (San Francisco) 3 Nov. 8/1 (Newspapers.com)
>
> Everything about the game almost was yellow except the few blue notes
> blown out by the U. C. Band when the musicians dallied with one of Sousa's
> marches.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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