The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I don't know if this is a common practice or not, but whenever I am transcribing song lyrics or whatever from a record, I try to write down just the first letter of each word while listening in real time without pausing. Then I listen to it again with required pausing and fill in the rest of the words. Seems quicker and more accurate to me than trying to remember entire lines or phrases without the first-letter-of-each-word prompts. Thus, the first line of the first verse of I'm Just A Vagabond Lover, for example, would first be written:
A
a
I
s
a
d
o
s

Then, go back, more or less at your leisure:
All
alone
I
sit
and
dream
of
someone

I usually write horizontally and leave some space between each first letter, then cram the rest of the word in sort of diagonally!

John
M

Starkton wrote:Is it possible to transcribe the spoken text for us non-native speakers? I had some difficulties to understand several words/passages. Partly because the disc run too fast. Thank you in advance!

Any idea at what speed this 1896 Berliner was recorded. I would be happy to go back and reset the governor and run this at the proper speed so it is Historically correct.

Berliners usually play at ~68-70 RPM...

hope this helps,
Sean

The pitfall of having the microphone in the camera....I understand the visual reasons for having the shot from different angles to show off the record and the machine, but it plays havoc with intelligibility of the sound. When the mike captures just what's coming straight out the horn, it's the clearest it can be. And the record's vintage notwithstanding, out of the horn it sounds better than the record I tried transferring in this manner (as demonstrated in this thread), using a studio microphone!

The first "blue" section appears to be "and can talk upon more subjects..." I agree with "these plates." The part about the man proposing is perplexing; I seem to hear the word "law" and believe (based on the George Graham transcript) that it is "BREACH of promise." That section in the Graham version is:

Girls, if your fellow proposes, make him do it through me,
and then you have got him sure and he never can get free;
Because if he should shake you, and off with another scoot,
you have the evidence against him in a Breach of Promise suit.

Yes, I confirm for sure. It is in fact Breach of Promise.

Mordeth-

Great job transcribing all of that. I think the first sentence is as follows:

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the gramophone. I can talk longer, talk louder, and talk upon more different subjects than any other instrument that has been invented."

As for the other blue words, your guess is as good as mine!