[ Image: Courtesy of Lion Taming - Answers.com ]
The popular idiom, "music hath charms to soothe the savage beast," (and variations thereof) misquote and give new meaning to a famous line. The original phrase in William Congreve's 1697 play, The Mourning Bride, actually reads: "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast."
Phrase Finder recently found "there are twice as many hist [sic] for the incorrect version of the phrase as for the correct one." Although inaccurate, mauled, and mangled, the variant phrases aptly describe researchers' findings: music can pacify both two- and four-legged beasts.
Ironically, media coverage, image makers, and court records portray many singers, musicians and industry insiders as wild. Some even end up being penned up. And many who aren't, don't seem any less stressed, angry, violent, predatory or otherwise dysfunctional than other cats.
That observation was most recently reiterated by a horn player (let's call her Dinah) who is a lion(ess) in more ways than one (see Merriam-Webster definitions of lion 1a, 2a and 2b). Dinah is a talented, respected instrumentalist with a fiery mane, ferocious temper, and
