"The Case For Me And Joe DiMaggio (updated version)"
If I showed you this photo of me and Joe DiMaggio
sitting around a table with some other people,
I know what you'd say.
You'd say I was having a big head day.
You might say my head looks like a big balloon
floating over Joe's shoulder.
You'd say the picture was a fake.
The evidence so far is purely circumstantial.
I did in fact sit and talk with the Yankee Clipper
while he ate dinner and I had coffee.
And a photograph WAS taken,
just not the one that appeared in the newspaper.
The camera lies.
After I'd spent enough time with Joltin' Joe,
I left the club,
an Italian restaurant where I was the piano player.
It was my night off.
After I left,
they took a picture of Joe DiMaggio with the club owner,
the chef, and some other dignitaries.
Which snapshot do you think they put in the paper?
The one with me, or the one with the owner?
Right.
But they were thoughtful enough to cut a picture of me
from someplace else and stick me in there,
over Joe DiMaggio's shoulder,
gazing off into the distance with a stupid look.
And a huge head.
Copyright © January 26, 2001 by Jack Blanchard. Updated version: © Feb. 12, 2002.
All rights reserved.
