Posted by Will on February 7, 2004, 12:50 pm, in reply to "Re: more on "play it like a piano"" Regarding "shah" vs. "sharp" you might be right, as in pool sharp or shark. But during that time, the 20's, there was a fascination with the the exotic east, e.g. Rudolph Valentino and sheiks of araby, etc. A bit like our current use of the word tzar maybe. I'll give it more listens I'm sure... nice to meet you btw.
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You're correct that he calls himself boy, as in "play that thing, boy," but I think that carries a different meaning, I think I hear sarcasm in his voice there too. I wasn't thinking of race, of course. I'm white and I might joke with a white friend who's underperforming a bit by calling him "boy."
--Previous Message--
: Note that Blake also uses "boy" to
: refer to himself quite often as in "Play
: that thing, boy. Play it low and
: lonesome" and the like on his solo
: recordings. It's not easy to be sure, but I
: don't get the sense that when Blake said
: "boy" it was the kind of insult it
: is these days when a white person says it to
: a black person.
: By the way, I think that "shah" is
: "sharp".
: --Previous Message--
: I agree with what's been said, but in the
: case
: of Blake I think additionally he uses a lot
: of stereotypical piano licks. For instance
: in the boogie woogie beginning of the solo in
: Police Dog Blues that follows the line
: "she didn't like my kind." Or that
: phenomenal little figure in Seaboard Stomp at
: about 2:26.
: I think maybe he did a bit of good-natured
: championing of guitar vs. piano, for instance
: again in Seaboard Stomp where he refers to
: the "piano shah" as
: "boy."
: I remember seeing an old ad for Blake on the
: web which emphasises his "piano sounding
: guitar." I noticed the other day that
: in the famous photograph of him, he is
: sitting on a piano bench. I like to think
: that was an intentional comment and not just
: what the photographer happened to have on
: hand.
: Peace out.
: :
:
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