Dear Mo the Caller--

Your last comment set off a big "Why didn't I ever think of that?" in my head. I usually don't get lost in the AABA sense, but late last year I met someone with absolutely no sense of it. This is in rehearsals, too, mind you, with words/music on the stand in front of him. No, Bill, you don't do B until you've done A twice. Didn't stick. I printed out lyrics that were color coded. I printed out the entire piece with repeated choruses and no 'repeat' signs, just so he wouldn't get lost. No impact. I suspect some manufacturing defect in the cerebrum. The man plays a helluva fiddle, but cannot count to TWO. Needless to say, Bill doesn't ride with us any more. I didn't think of trying to use another instrument to cue him. I'll have to remember that.

Where I do get lost is re. lyrics, especially as I do a lot of blues & a lot of traditional ballads, both of which are likely to have verses that start out with the same phrase. I can get away with it with the blues, but in a ballad it's a dead give-away--I've either repeated part of the story or skipped some of it, though some of my colleagues don't mind that, as they were raised on 30-sec sound bites and think these songs are way too long anyway.

Anyway, I appreciate the thought. Maybe it's the origin of the phrase, "egging someone on," but I doubt it.

Chicken Charlie

PS. "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" is really of deep, world-altering significance. Creationists must say "the chicken." Darwinists must say "the egg."