MUSICAL NOMENCLATURE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 471, 2 July 1948, Page 5

MUSICAL NOMENCLATURE

Sir,-Music lovers will join in thanking your correspondent, A. Christie, for pointing out the unfortunate misprinting of the word "Bebop" in a recent swing programme. Your rendering of this word as "Rebop" is, of course, quite laughable to those of musical learning, but for the sake of those who ate perhaps ignorant of the finer points of music, I feel that more care should be . taken to avoid such grossly misleading errors. I myself would like to bring to your notice an even more unforgivable error in a Swing Session recently advertised from Station 2YA when that superb orchestration, "My Baby’s Back" was shown as being presented at 10.45 p.m. Not wishing to miss hearing this beautiful melody, I tuned to the station at 6.30 and sat eagerly until 10.45 waiting: for those fine opening lines, "Don’ miss that other baby, now. my other baby’s back." Judge my tereible disappointment when I found that the number which had been advertised as "My Baby’s Back" actually turned out to be that other famous composition, "Mah Babby’s Back." Now I am not decrying this other fine piece of music. It is simply that one has to be in a different mood to appreciate its beautiful lines-‘Mah babby’s back is getting black, since soap was rationed here." As everyone knows, "My Baby’s Back" was composed by the great J. Macgregor’ Finkelbaum and the music of this master is of a subtly different type to that of the equally famous Carrington P. Guggenheim and Dimitri Murphy, joint composers of "Mah Babby’s Back." I need hardly point out that your journal, in allowing typographical errors such as these to creep in, does a great disservice to those who seek to understand the works of these great masters of music.

JOHN

McDOUGALL

(Wellington),