Canthook

I know a lot of fancy dancers,
People who can glide you on a floor,
They move so smooth but have no answers.
When you ask "Why'd you come here for?"
"I don't know why?"

Blondie says "You're all the time singing that you want a hard-headed woman, but..."

Hey, I say, that's in the shower. You're not allowed to hold a man's personal hygiene against him! And then she holds her personal hygiene against me, and I melt....

Yusuf Islam ended his recording career in 1977, and stopped calling himself "Cat Stevens" in 1978 as part of his conversion to faith in 1976. (He actually started out as a Cypriot named Steven Demetre Georgiou.) I can't argue with a man who is trying to obey his maker. In 2006, he decided that maybe God wanted him to be a singer after all.

God Is Nothing If Not Persistant

God is nothing if not persistant. According to my latest conversations with God, he doesn't pass out talent if he doesn't want it to be used. That insight first was presented to me by a strip tease artist. She was sitting next to me, drinking a $6 "bourbon rocks" that smelled like iced tea. Some men needed physical comfort, she explained, and with some customers, she was happy to be a little more cosy than the club rules formally permitted, although nothing that couldn't be displayed in a G or GP movie. With many customers, though, she engaged in real conversation about substantive matters, which she considered to be far more intimate. That's been 35 years ago, I imagine, and I suspect she was right about it being more intimate.

But we're heading in a different direction than I intended this post to go. I wanted to talk about a different kind of intimacy - the use of one's name. I've been laughing at Chris Matthews of late because he keeps calling the former vice president Mr. "Chinney" instead of "Chay-knee".

This morning, on MSNBC, his own network, they showed a clip of Ms. Cheney asserting that everyone in the family pronounces it "Chay-knee". Tonight, on Matthews' own show, he announced that he thought it absurd that she would be making such a big deal of it, and he asserted that the former vice-president himself pronounces it "Chinney". On the screen, the chyron said "Chê' nê", which would be pronounced "Chee-knee".

I'm looking for a hard headed woman,
One who will take me for myself,
And if I find my hard headed woman,
I won't need nobody else, no, no, no.

He's From Philadelphia

Blondie says it's because he's from Bucks county, not too far from where Blondie grew up. She remembers her Mom constantly nagging her dad because he supported the "Iggles" football team, and sometimes rooted for the Pittsburg "Stillers". With an accent like that, I suppose Cheney becomes Chinney. Except that the family disagrees with that pronunciation.

I know of a guy named Hyman, whose brother is named Heymann. When the brother married, his wife insisted on changing the name to something classier. It's pronounced the same way, for both families, so I don't know how much classier it is. Maybe she just thought the spelling was too close to hymen, which, as Playboy Party Jokes pointed out some 40 or so years ago, is a welcome greeting to fellas.

The United Press and the United Press International stylebooks, back when the United Press, and then the United Press International actually existed, said that member newspapers should call someone by the name they call themselves. I presume the AP Stylebook says the same thing. The rule was stretched quite a bit when Cassius Clay swapped his birth certificate name for Muhammed Ali. The racist zealots insisted on calling him Cassius Clay, especially when it turned out that his new religion not only called for a new name, but objected to engaging in war.

I'm looking for a hard headed woman,
One who will make me do my best,
And if I find my hard headed woman
I know the rest of my life will be blessed -- yes, yes, yes.

I Confess; He's Still Cat Stevens

I admit that I still think of Steven Demetre Georgiou as Cat Stevens, but I make the lousy excuse that it was always a nom de' musique in the first place, and I'm referring to his music when I refer to him. Similarly, I refer to Samuel Clemens as Mark Twain and Marion Morrison as John Wayne. In 2006, though, when he resumed his musical career, it was as Yusuf Islam, so I really need to shift my brain into gear; anything less is downright rude.

That's not to say that I'm calling Chris Matthews rude. But maybe I should. I was a little annoyed when the bigots of the GOP made a big deal about Barack Obama's middle name, and yet they used his real, legitimate, name. Obama himself defused the effect of their nastiness when he insisted in using his middle name when taking the oath of office.

And In The Car

I had to run an errand in the car today, and the radio was tuned to a fairly unbalanced station - and I've spent enough time in looney bins to know unbalanced when I hear it. Hannity was talking about terrorists in American prisons, and he was talking about Timothy McVeigh, the terrorist who blew up the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City, and was executed in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Uh, Sean? That never happened. It was nowhere near Fort Wayne. For one thing, there's no federal prison in Fort Wayne. There used to be a loonie bin there, but it was torn down decades ago, and they never did executions there. McVeigh was executed in Terre Haute, which is in SW corner of Indiana, instead of the NE corner. Most people from Fort Wayne have never been anywhere close to Terre Haute.

But factual accuracy has never been a big thing for pundits, whether on the left or the right.

I know many fine feathered friends
But their friendliness depends on how you do.
They know many sure fired ways
To find out the one who pays
And how you do.

Roadsinger

Yosuf Islam, on the other hand, seems to have a feeling for the actual truth, whether he gets the details right or not. These lyrics are from "Head Headed Woman", which was on the 1970 album "Tea For The Tillerman".

In the last week, he has appeared on the various late-night shows, mostly performing a single from his new LP "Roadsinger". I've spent 39 years listening to "Tea For The Tillerman", and it's hard for a new single to displace the comfort of a familiar lyric and tune. Actually, if I were recommending a single LP of his - and oh, gee, that seems to be exactly what I'm doing, isn't it? - I would recommend 1972's "Catch Bull At Four", but the lyrics of "Hard Headed Woman" seemed to fit better with my current state of marital bliss and disgust with hard headed pundits. (N.B. Little Brudder seems to think "Teaser And The Firecat" is the best to recommend, since it has "Morning Has Broken". )

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
Cassius Clay - Cat Stevens - Catch Bull At Four - Chris Matthews - Dick Cheney - Fort Wayne - Hard Headed Woman - John Wayne - Marion Morrison - Mark Twain - Muhammed Ali - Philadelphia Eagles - Pittsburgh Steelers - Samuel Clemens - Sean Hannity - Tea For The Tillerman - Teaser And The Firecat - Terre Haute - Timothy McVeigh - Yusuf Islam