IS IT JUST I

Until I just typed that title, I never thought that Is It Just Me is grammatically incorrect. It should be as I typed it. I've said it a ton of times, but until now I didn't realize that it is grammatically incorrect to take the objective case after a linking verb. That is, the predicate nominative must be I.

Is it just me, or do songs from days passed bring up vivid images of where we were when? A long time good friend of mine posed the question on Facebook this week wondering how many of us had ever been in a parked car when the Ronettes song "Be My Baby" came on through the speakers. But I'm not talking necessarily about romantic times.

Whenever I hear "Venus in Blue Jeans" I think of playing basketball at a friend's house. When I hear "He's So Fine" I think of a bus ride out of town going to a basketball game. When I hear "What Becomes of the Lonely Hearted", I think of a good friend who knew the words and loved to sing/talk it. And when I think of one of my all-time favorites, Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves A Woman," I think of wishing I had a girl at the time so I could be that kind of guy.

When I think of the song from "A Chorus Line", "One" I don't think of the play which I've seen on Broadway and other places; I think of a tribute at Busch Stadium to one of my all-timers, Ozzie Smith. When I hear The Monkees "Daydream Believer" I recall a hard day at work with a friend. And when I hear any song by The Association, I think of that same friend and our Spring Break in Joliet, IL .

So rather than to take you down any more of my memory interstate (for I do have quite a memory-- no way is it a lane), I'll list some songs and see if they bring back a place, a person, a time. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same," Monday, Monday", "Ruby Tuesday", "Telestar", the first Beatle song you ever heard, and "Blue Hawaii". I couldn't leave the King out.

And the picture at the start of this entry, well that reminded me of the Song of '61--"Stanger on the Shore". Happy reminiscing. Remember that one? "Friday night it was late I walked you to the gate...and reminiscing."