Jamie and I used to work at the Smith College bookstore in our college days and of course, had various songspeaks for various book titles. One time, Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones came on the radio and I walked by Jamie holding a copy of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. He knew what I was talking about, and started singing “It’s Mrs. Dalloway, it’s Mrs. Dalloway-y-aaaay!” instead of “It’s just a shout away”.

Other songspeak moments for this song include:

- Watching early seasons of ER and singing “It’s Carol Hathaway, It’s Carol Hathaway-y-aaaay!” whenever Julianna Margulies was on screen.

- Corresponding via email between Jamie and myself about how far our friend’s house in NJ is from my grandmother’s house on Long Island and typing “It’s just an hour away, it’s just an hour away-y-aaaay!”

Tags: 20s books, 60s music, ER, gimme shelter, julianna margulies, mrs. dalloway, rolling stones, virginia woolf