One last trivial matter...

In a matter of nine or ten hours, this won't matter, as we'll be in the middle of something less than trivial. It probably doesn't matter now. However, in an effort to bring full disclosure to an industry in which I have no stake, I feel like we need to get on the record with this.

You've probably heard the poem "Nobody Knows It But Me." James Garner reads it in the new Chevy Tahoe commercial. It's nice. Garner reads it very well. Posts on e-message baords on the internet have been raving about how wonderful the poem is. By all accounts, including the poet's, the words come from the pen of Patrick O'Leary, a lesser known science fiction writer who also does some copy work for the ad agency Campbell-Ewald.

O'Leary--on his web site--notes how familiar the poem must sound to people. He writes: "No, you didn't hear it when you were a child. Your Grandmother didn't read it to you. Or your Grandpa or your Dad. But I know what you mean: it was written to capture that childlike carefree sense of wonder and adventure."

Now, to call this plagarism would be incorrect. However, let's be serious. "Nobody Knows It But Me?" Of course it sounds familiar. It is the title and hook line to one of the greatest break-up songs of all time. First recorded by the Tony Rich Project and later covered by...um...Babyface, "Nobody Knows It But Me" has been around for quite some time. In fact a quick search by my country music researcher, Uncle Ted, reminded me that bald country crooner Kevin Sharp recorded the song as well. That's not to mention the old Johnny Cash song "Long Black Veil" that contains the line "Nobody Knows But Me."

And then there is this line... "And wherever you are going , That's wherever you are." I've searched and searched, but can't find the original source for it. But it goes without saying that this phrase or a version of it shows up way too often in graduation speeches and yearbook signings.

So, Mr. O'Leary has done a nice job of taking a few well-known lines penned by others and fusing them with a few lines of his own. Bravo.

I once had an English teacher who said there only about 20 stories and its a writers job to find interesting ways to re-tell them. I guess the same thing is true of poetry.

Remind me to work Felcher and Sons into my next verse.