Topic: Andrew and Jim Baxter Lyrics

[dj]

I would suspect that "Moore Girl" was a deliberate mishearing and used as a nickname...

Aha.  Thanks Chris, that connected the dots for me.  Not a "deliberate mishearing" so much as a pun, I suppose.

The collective wisdom of Weenie Campbell is truly astounding.   

[Lastfirstface]

Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong spot, but I couldn't find another thread about the Baxters to post this ephemera. I was looking at the Facebook page of Spring Fed Records the other day and saw these documents regarding sales figures and management contracts for the Baxters and the Georgia Yellow Hammers and I thought they might be of interest to people here:

https://www.facebook.com/springfed/photos/a.619940054712676.1073741826.194869070553112/910068022366543/

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Re "Moore Girl" as sung by Willie McTell and spoken by Jim Baxter vs. "mogul", the actual name of the engine type in question, it occurs to me it may be neither a pun, nor a deliberate mishearing, but a cultural way of coming to terms with, and making sense of a name that bore no connotations that made any sense.  I once read a brilliant essay by the late writer Walker Percy (who was from Mississippi), called "Metaphor As Mistake".  One example he gave in the essay was the fact that he discovered, upon visiting a juke joint, that everyone referred to the jukebox as a "seabird".  Come to find out, the jukeboxes were manufactured by the Seeburg Company.  I think the name "Moore Girl" for "mogul" came about via a similarly circuitous route, making sense out of something that otherwise didn't make sense.
All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

You could be right, John. Some of us have probably heard "sparrow grass" or just "sparrow" used for asparagus, so anything is possible.

I ran across the following (scroll up a bit):

http://tinyurl.com/pkcprmb

And a couple  more:

http://www.american-rails.com/moguls.html

http://www.engine-driver.com/article/show/3529/where-did-those-exotic-names-for-us-steam-loco-types-come-from

Thanks for the info, dj. There's always more to learn.

[Neal Cassady]

Is it known whether Jim used a flatpick or not?

[Johnm]

I don't think it is known conclusively, but you can find a photo of Andrew and Jim Baxter by googling it. In the photo, Jim's picking hand is in a fist position, making it likely that he used either a flat pick or a thumb pick--it's not a hand position that would lend itself to playing without one of the afore-mentioned pick types.
All best,
Johnm