what she stands for, and what she won't allow

 

I'm the official historian on Shirley Jean Berrell

I've known her since God only knows and I won't tell

I caught her the first time she stumbled and fell

And surely she knows me just as well

I can tell you her birthday and her daddy's middle name

The uncles on her mama's side and the ones they don't claim

What she's got for Christmas since 1952

And that's only the beginning of the things I could tell you

'Cause I'm the official historian on Shirley Jean Berrell

I've known her since God only knows and I won't tell

I caught her the first time she stumbled and fell

And surely she knows me just as well

I can tell you her favorite song and where she likes to park

And why to this very day she's scared of the dark

How she got her nickname and that scar behind her knee

If there's anything you need to know 'bout Shirley just ask me

I know where she's ticklish and her every little quirk

The funnies she don't read and her number at work

I know what she stands for and what she won't allow

The only thing that I don't know is where she is right now

But I'm the official historian on Shirley Jean Berrell

I've known her since God only knows and I won't tell

I caught her the first time she stumbled and fell

And surely she knows me just as well

Oh, Shirley, she knows me just as well

________________________________

     Each time that song says, "surely she knows me just as well,"

it could be

"Shirley, she knows me just as well"

-- I switched the spelling myself, up there in the last line, just to see how it could go either way --

and I don't know how songwriters Don Reid and Harold Reid wrote it or intended it...  probably they aimed for us to enjoy the song and wonder which "surely" or "Shirley" - however the listener wants to take it...

     and like that plot twist in the last verse:

"I know what she stands for and what she won't allow

The only thing that I don't know is where she is right now"...  

    

It's a well-written, sweet, surprising, and elegantly witty little song.

-30-