[Dixielandjazz] Vocal gaffe

[Eric Holroyd]

Whilst singing “That Old Black Magic” at my regular Sunday afternoon spot 
today I misread some of the words and made a mistake that was instantly SO 
funny to me, yet nobody listening to me picked up on it.

What I actually sang was, “You’re the lover I’ve been waiting for, the mate 
that fate had me cremated for”.

You may have to read that again to catch the meaning.

Now, I swear that I have never read that line anywhere in my life, nor has 
it ever come up in the band room or on the band bus.

Have a think about it and sing it over to yourself, and I’m sure that you’ll 
all agree that it scans properly and doesn’t interrupt the tune’s flow in 
any way.

I remembered later that one of the US newspapers ran a contest a couple of 
years back asking readers to change just one letter in a song title and give 
it a whole new meaning.

The winner – and I still can’t explain why it was so funny – was It Might As 
Well Be String.

So I’m now suggesting that DJMLers now do a faintly similar thing, this time 
with a line or two of lyrics, and ADD just one letter (as I did with the Old 
Black Magic couplet) to make it mean something else – hopefully funny.

Let’s see where this one takes us!

Remember, please only ADD ONE LETTER.

As an afterthought, I’m wondering what dark and mysterious forces were at 
work to prompt me into singing the line I did in “That Old Black Magic”.

Bearing in mind the implications of that song title, I mused about Voodoo 
and Black Magic itself.

Eric Holroyd