Ladyjean:

I've done Uncle Dave Macon's version of Morning Blues with one lyric change. I change "makes a nig**** lips go flippity flop" to "makes my lips go flippety flop." I've also stopped saying, "Are you ready, boys?" when singing with my black gospel quartet because black men have been insulted by the name too much in the past. I don't need to use that word... I can substitute, "fellas," just as easily.

When I'm just with the guys, we have a lot of fun kidding around, because there is no question of how much we respect and love each other. Frankie, one of the men in the group (who is hardly a boy at 79) gets a big kick out of saying "play that gittar, white boy" when I get rocking, and we all broke up in practice recently when Frankie was really getting in to a song and I said, "Sing that song, colored person." But, I would never use the "n" word, anywhere.

Jerry