My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky. They are known for their psychedelic hippie rock. The band is comprised of Jim James (singer-songwriter, guitarist), Tom 'Two-Tone Tommy' Blankenship (bassist), Patrick Hallahan (drummer), Carl Broemel (guitarist, pedal steel guitarist, saxophonist, vocalist), and Bo Koster (keyboardist, percussionist, vocalist).

The band at the Newport Folk Festival in 2015

They are a great example of a band that doesn't really want to explain their band name origin. I might even guess that the name My Morning Jacket has no real origin, hence the mystery.

During our research, we found an article from 2008 by The Independent that revealed a story that lead singer Jim James had told in regard to the band’s name. According to the article, James was visiting an old friend and discovered that his favorite bar had burned down. In these burned remains, he found a jacket with the initials “MMJ” stitched on it, and thus My Morning Jacket was born.

However, other sources claim that James has told numerous, conflicting stories about how the band’s name came to be. He has said that the name came from him writing down various things in a lyrics notebook and that My Morning Jacket happened to be one of those things. He’s also said that the name is just “a weird name for a band.” 

A similar story to the one in that article by Jim James who said he was visiting his old student-hangout bar (Boot's Bar in Lexington), which had been razed by a fire. Amongst the charred remains, he came upon a jacket which had stitched "MMJ", which he took to mean "My Morning Jacket."

A rather far-fetched story is that it is slang for when a man wakes up in the morning with an erection with a condom already on.

This online post collects a number of origins

cover of is (import album)

Literary Words from French

This is the second of our series of words from French that entered English after the Norman invasion of 1066. When William the Conqueror of Normandy, France, defeated Old English-speaking Saxons led by Harold II, King of England, at the Battle of Hastings, many words entered English. This did not happen immediately but was a process over the course of several centuries. English moved from being a Germanic-based language to one with a large Latinate vocabulary via French. In this post, we look at words referring to literature.

The death of Harold, as shown on the Bayeux Tapestry

The English word literature comes down from the Old French lettre. In the singular, the word in French refers to a member of the alphabet; when it's plural, it's as broad as it is in our phrase "Arts and Letters," encompassing literature and culture.

The pen came into English from the Old French penne, "a feather with a sharpened quill." It was dipped in enque, the Old French word for ink came from a Latin word that described the purple fluid meant for a very specific use - the Roman emperor's official stamp of approval.

Various genres of English literature derive their names from French roots, some of which ultimately derive from Greek. Poet, for example, we got from the Old French word poete, which entered French from Greek via Latin. In Greek, there's poiein, a verb meaning "to create." And in Greek there is poetes, "maker, poet." In Middle English, "poetry" at first referred to creative literature as a whole.

Tragedy in English is from the Old French tragedie via Latin from Greek tragoidia. The reasoning behind the Greek roots (tragos, meaning "goat" and oide "ode, song") is not entirely clear. On that note, mystery, from Old French mistere, was a word first used in English with the sense of "mystic presence" or "hidden religious" symbolism.

Comedy at first referred in English to a genre of stories in which the ending was a happy one. It also came into Middle English through Old French, via Latin from Greek, where it's a compound of the words "revel" and "singer." Comedian first referred to a person who wrote comic plays, and then — in the late 1800s — developed the sense of a person who stands in front of an audience and tells jokes.

Journal is from Old French jurnal, or "belonging to a day." At first, it was a sort of reference book that contained the times of daily prayers. In the 1600s, it acquired the meaning of "diary" and later became associated with newspaper titles and lent its root to journalism.

More words from French

Words and the Norman Invasion of England

Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Norman ships grounding
and horses landing in England

On a recent trip to England, I visited the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, where the Battle of Hastings occurred. William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil, and the French-speaking Normans eventually defeated the Old English-speaking Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066.

The defeat is said to have a more pronounced effect on the development of the English language than any other event in history. Within the course of a few centuries, English went from being a strictly Germanic language to one infused with a large Latinate vocabulary, which came via French.

The French brought us all sorts of words that surround cooking, including the word gourmet, which in Old French was gromet, a wine-taster's assistant. At first, the term was used in jest, a satirical way to describe persons overly preoccupied with food, but the term became respectable and then even fashionable. Gourmand, French for glutton, is from the same root, and in early use, it carried with it a sense of moral disapproval, because food was often in short supply and so gluttony was hence deemed to be a serious transgression.

We get the word for supper — super, "to take one's evening meal" — as well as the word for dinner from this occupation. In Old French, the word was disner, which evolved from a Latin word meaning "to break fast." 

A dinner entrée might feature any of these types of meat whose English names were derived from French:
Beef — from Old French boef, meaning "bull." The name for the farm animal, cow, remained in use from Old English.

Mutton — from Old French muton. The sheep, which gave its flesh, also maintained its Old English name.

Pork — from Old French porc, from Latin porcus. The Old English name again remains for the farm animal — swine — and we again use the French-derived name for what's served at the table.

The meat could be served in the form of a cutlet, a word stemming from the French côtelette, "little rib." Perhaps the meat is roasted, from the Old French rostir. It originally meant to cook before a fire; now, it has evolved so that it generally means to "cook in an oven." 

The verb grill, which people now often use to refer to cooking over a fire, comes from the French word for grate, the metal grid that separates the flame from the food. In the early 1700s, roast came to take on the meaning of "ridicule" or "criticize" — and today, we see celebrities and politicians roasted on late-night television.

And if you'd like a salad with that, you're asking for something derived from a French word — salade — from Latin salata, meaning "that which is salted." Although vinegar and oil were already available and used as condiments, early dressings for leaves of lettuce were often comprised of salt water.

Salt is also firmly rooted in the words salsa, sauce and saucy, and in the word salary. Before technology revolutionized the harvesting of salt into a cheap and easy process, salt was extremely precious, and soldiers of the Roman Empire were often paid part of their wages — that is, their salary — in the form of measured amounts of salt. Salt's ancient value as an important commodity also helps to explain the phrase "worth [his] salt."

More words from French

Book Title Origins

In our continuing series of posts about where titles of books and other works originated, we add these four book titles.

The novel about colonialism in Africa, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, takes its title from a W.B. Yeats’s poem, “The Second Coming,” to name his story about colonialism, pride, and loss:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...”

Flannery O’Connor's short story collection, Everything That Rises Must Converge borrows from the book Omega Point by the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

“Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.”

Evelyn Waugh turned to T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” for his book A Handful of Dust.

“I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

John Steinbeck often turned to the Bible for titles. His Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath  sounds like it might be Biblical. After several other working titles, his wife suggested a phrase from the song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” by Julia Ward Howe.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.”

Radiohead

Radiohead took its name from the Talking Heads' song called "Radio Head." They had previously been known as "On a Friday" which was a reference to the day of the week that they had their rehearsals. 

This English rock band formed in 1985 in Oxfordshire. In 1991, they landed a recording contract with EMI but were requested to change their name to Radiohead/ When asked, lead singer Thom Yorke said the name “sums up all these things about receiving stuff… It’s about =way you take information in, the way you respond to the environment you’re put in.”

Advertisement placed in the Oxford music magazine Curfew 
by Ronan Munro - bbc.com/, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Radiohead became highly influential and is known for their musical innovation and evolving sound, which has spanned from alternative rock to more experimental and electronic styles. 

The band's lineup has remained consistent since its formation: Thom Yorke: Lead vocals, guitar, piano Jonny Greenwood: Lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments Ed O'Brien: Guitar, backing vocals Colin Greenwood: Bass guitar Philip Selway: Drums, percussion 

Radiohead's major albums demonstrate their artistic progression.

Pablo Honey (1993): Their debut album, which includes the worldwide hit "Creep." While the band later grew to resent the single's ubiquity, it launched their career and gave them a platform for future work.

The Bends (1995): This album marked a significant leap forward, showcasing a more polished and emotionally resonant sound. It featured singles like "High and Dry" and "Fake Plastic Trees" and earned them critical acclaim, laying the groundwork for their next phase. 

OK Computer (1997): Widely considered a masterpiece, this album solidified their status as a major force in music. With themes of technology, alienation, and modern life, its complex production and ambitious songs like "Paranoid Android" and "Karma Police" made it a landmark of the 1990s and a massive critical and commercial success. 

Kid A mnesia (2000): A radical departure from their guitar-driven sound, this album shocked fans and critics by heavily incorporating electronic music, jazz, and krautrock. Despite its initial divisiveness, it is now celebrated for its boldness and is often credited with influencing a new generation of experimental artists. 

In Rainbows (2007): Notable for its revolutionary "pay-what-you-want" release model, this album marked a return to a more accessible, yet still experimental, sound. It was both a commercial and critical triumph, praised for its warmth, intricate arrangements, and standout tracks like "Nude" and "Jigsaw Falling into Place."

www.radiohead.com/