"That ain't no part of nothin' "

[Mike Bunting]

Good thing Big Mon' never heard the Kentucky Headhunters version of "Walk Softly".

You might be surprised.

[ralph johansson]

Good thing Big Mon' never heard the Kentucky Headhunters version of "Walk Softly".

There's a video of Monroe and the Headhunters performing the song together. Check their myspace!

[ralph johansson]

I have a documentary DVD about Bill, and on the topic of Elvis doing "Blue Moon of Kentucky" he says that "If it helped him get his start, it was fine by him"... Perhaps the residual checks that rolled in as writer of the afore mentioned tune tempered his opinion a bit... Great documentary BTW, I highly recommend it... Bill Monroe - Father of Bluegrass Music, not one cranky comment and a bunch of cool people reminiscing, including interviews with Bill by John Hartford and others...

Monroe dug Presley much because of his roots in gospel music. He encouraged the Stanley Brothers to cover Presley's version.

[M.Marmot]

I have a documentary DVD about Bill, and on the topic of Elvis doing "Blue Moon of Kentucky" he says that "If it helped him get his start, it was fine by him"... Perhaps the residual checks that rolled in as writer of the afore mentioned tune tempered his opinion a bit... Great documentary BTW, I highly recommend it... Bill Monroe - Father of Bluegrass Music, not one cranky comment and a bunch of cool people reminiscing, including interviews with Bill by John Hartford and others...

I do believe that very documentary, amongst others, is free to stream on Folkstreams.net

[Lachlan]

Monroe dug Presley much because of his roots in gospel music. He encouraged the Stanley Brothers to cover Presley's version.

True enough. As a matter of fact, Bill told Carter and Ralph to record it right away, even before he recorded the up-tempo version. He said something along the lines of, "You boys should record that song as soon as you can. I'm going to record it myself next week."

That there's some part of somethin'. <-- (You can quote ME on that one.)

[Steven Simpson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5KHbrUr8g

[Spruce]

"That ain't no part of nothin'"...

[f5loar]

Monroe was so impressed with those Kentucy Headhunters he invited them to play his Beanblossom Festival and they did!

[billkilpatrick]

He said it to me when I showed him the space where the cuckoo I hadn't made to fit into a cuckoo clock that I didn't have was.

i'm going to have to go with o.s. here. when mr. monroe repeated his legendary bon mot in my presence, discussion - at times heated, i must confess - seemed to revolve around the proper use of english.

[brunello97]

i'm going to have to go with o.s. here. when mr. monroe repeated his legendary bon mot in my presence, discussion - at times heated, i must confess - seemed to revolve around the proper use of english.

For various reasons, my mother couldn't tolerate the man. "Bad grammar and bad manners" she used to say. I think it had something to do with wearing that dopey hat indoors. I don't remember her having an opinion on his mandolin playing.

Mick

[billkilpatrick]

i think your mom and i would get along ... his music is marvelous - no doubt about it - but i think he was just a big bully.

i remember seeing a b/w photo a huge hall filled with couples sitting down to dinner. all the men had their western hats on - looked like a room full of ladies setting beside giant, peculiarly shaped mushrooms

[Laird]

The way I've heard it told ... Mr. Bill asked Sam Bush, "What do you call that music you play?" Bush, "Newgrass?" Mr. Bill, [. . .] "That ain't no part of nuthin."

This is the version I've always heard.

[norm351]

Re: "That ain't no part of nothin' "
Good thing Big Mon' never heard the Kentucky Headhunters version of "Walk Softly".

maybe he did, he was still alive when they did it, and I liked it, and I really believe he might have to, I've read that when early members of the Bluegrass Boys moved on like Lester & Earl, and others Mr Monroe wasn't to flattered with them playing his music, but as years went on and he realized what he had started, well they say he seemed to mellow on a lot of things...Except Dobros, I understand he never did like them...LOL.

[Mike Bunting]

Re: "That ain't no part of nothin' "
Good thing Big Mon' never heard the Kentucky Headhunters version of "Walk Softly".

maybe he did, he was still alive when they did it, and I liked it, and I really believe he might have to, I've read that when early members of the Bluegrass Boys moved on like Lester & Earl, and others Mr Monroe wasn't to flattered with them playing his music, but as years went on and he realized what he had started, well they say he seemed to mellow on a lot of things...Except Dobros, I understand he never did like them...LOL.

See post #32

[Ivan Kelsall]

I believe that he got the phrase from this Tee-shirt ,
Ivan

[norm351]

Thanks Mike, I saw that after I had posted mine, great video, I had never seen it be for...

[journeybear]

There's a video of Monroe and the Headhunters performing the song together. Check their myspace!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5KHbrUr8g

"That ain't no part of nothin'"...

Thank you, gentlemen, for this interchange. Pretty wild! And yes, if I understand my grammar correctly - that is part of something, all right, yes indeedy!

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Peter Rowan repeatedly told this story on stage as an introduction to "The Walls of Time". In the early '60s, when Pete was a B. G. Boy, they were approaching Bean Blossom. There was this big sign saying (something like): "Welcome to Bean Blossom Indiana, home of Bill Mambo and his Bluegrass Boys." Later on stage, Bill introduced Pete as "Pete Rowns" and asked what song Peter had picked out that day, whereupon Pete made up something and started singing (with mambo guitar rythm): "Bill Mambo attha bluegrass festival …" Bill: "Pete, what have you done, that ain't no part o' bluegrass music, that ain't no part o' nothin'! You better listen to this and don't you ever forget it." And they went straight into "The Walls of Time".
Funny story, I find. We should ask Pete, if there is any truth to it or if he just sets great store by Mark Twain.

[billkilpatrick]

... if I understand my grammar correctly - that is part of something, all right, yes indeedy!

this is the problem. as was pointed out earlier, it's a triple negative: "ain't ... no part ... nothing." if changed to the positive, the sentence reads "that is a part of something" - which is clear, concise and to the point. if mr. monroe's intention was negative; to dictate an expression of displeasure and disdain - something along the lines of "we are not amused" - he would have said "that ain't a part of this thing" - or "our thing." to indicate that something is "no part" of "nothing" would perforce make it a part of something.

right?

[OldSausage]

Not quite. There are two ways to parse it:

That is not (not a part) of nothing = That is a part of nothing

Or

That is not (not (a part of nothing)) . Because its ambiguous what something is if it is not a part of nothing, it's impossible to parse without making an assumption. If we assume that means it's a part of something, then the sentence reads "that is not a part of something."

[journeybear]

Dang persnickety mandolin pickers! Always pick-pick-pickin' apart thangs till there ain't no thang no more! That there clip of Bill Monroe jammin' with them Kaintuck Head Cases is part of something, all right, and that's all I gotta say 'bout that!

[billkilpatrick]

Not quite. There are two ways to parse it: That is not (not a part) of nothing = That is a part of nothing Or That is not (not (a part of nothing)) . Because its ambiguous what something is if it is not a part of nothing, it's impossible to parse without making an assumption. If we assume that means it's a part of something, then the sentence reads "that is not a part of something."

ok - let me get this straight: if i understand correctly, what mr. monroe is saying is this (allowing for the fact that "ain't" ain't a word):

that is - is not a no part - of no thing

it's the part where he says "is not a no part" that's causing me to gnash my teeth and wrinkle my brow - sounds vaguely french and lefty

[multidon]

You know, I love that quote. I'm no expert on bluegrass or Monroe but the story I heard was that Bill and some of his guys were jamming with some younger players (Newgrass? Not sure). One of the younger players took a solo that pretty wild and "out there". After the solo, Bill supposedly said "Son, that ain't no part of nothin!", which I took to mean (my interpretation) that the solo was very far removed from the original song. I seemed to me that, when I heard the story (and I have no idea whether it was told to me straight or not) Bill was trying to say that, if you take a solo, even an improvised one, there should be at least some of the song in there somewhere. To me it was very much the same sentiment expressed by another fine musician in a completely different genre, Les Paul, who said something like (don't know if I have the exact phrasing here) "If you're going get away from the original melody, make sure what you come up with is better!".

[Marty Henrickson]

I can state for a fact that Monroe was NOT

vaguely french and lefty

!

I'm also pretty sure we all know what he meant by "That ain't no part of nothin'", whether our English teachers would approve of his use of language or not. "We are not amused" pretty much nails it, but sounds more like some "vaguely lefty and french" monarch might say, rather than a musician from Kentucky, born in the early 20th Century. The man was a great songwriter, he certainly knew how to get his point across.

[Joe Mendel]

Peter Rowan told the same story when he toured with the Nashville Bluegrass Band in the late 1980s. It was very funny. I always thought the Peter made up the story just so he could use the quote attributed to Bill.

[QUOTE=Henry Eagle;1067684]Peter Rowan repeatedly told this story on stage as an introduction to "The Walls of Time". In the early '60s, when Pete was a B. G. Boy, they were approaching Bean Blossom. There was this big sign saying (something like): "Welcome to Bean Blossom Indiana, home of Bill Mambo and his Bluegrass Boys." Later on stage, Bill introduced Pete as "Pete Rowns" and asked what song Peter had picked out that day, whereupon Pete made up something and started singing (with mambo guitar rythm): "Bill Mambo attha bluegrass festival …" Bill: "Pete, what have you done, that ain't no part o' bluegrass music, that ain't no part o' nothin'! You better listen to this and don't you ever forget it." And they went straight into "The Walls of Time".