Songbook #12: It Had to Be You
For nobody else gave me a thrill
With all your faults I love you still
It had to be you, wonderful you
It had to be you
Harry Connick Jr. Written by Isham Jones & Gus Kahn, performed by many.
It Had To Be You
In my fraternity it was not uncommon for two or more brothers to find the same woman attractive. This most typically caused problems when a girl would break up with one brother and then start a relationship with another brother. Occasionally it would be more serious as one brother would attempt to flirt or more than flirt with another brother's girlfriend. Thankfully the latter pattern was uncommon in my chapter. I'd like to tell you that I was honorable enough not to stab anyone in the back over a girl. I'd sure like to be able to tell you that.
I can't though. It would be a lie. Or at least a half-truth.
My first senior year a number of the members of one of the campus sororities ended up hanging out at our house. Not surprisingly, most of my brothers had no real objection to attractive women hanging out at the house. There was one girl in particular who I developed a massive crush on the first time I met her. Regrettably, I was about five hours too late. I met her several hours after she'd gone on a first date with one of my brothers, which led to them dating for a substantial length of time; at least six months as I recall.
The brother in question was, speaking frankly, smarter, better looking and more interesting than me. However, as I knew him pretty well I doubted that the relationship had long term potential. I figured that if I made friends with this girl when they inevitably broke up I'd be well positioned to step in, which didn't offend my sense of honor like hitting on her while they were dating did.
I'll pause so you can laugh and/or sigh at that fabulous bit of stupidity. In my defense, I was a lot younger and stupider then. More to the point, every single girl I dated in high school and college hit on me first. Why? Probably because I wasn't very good at talking to new people back then, especially new people who were attractive females. That inexperience probably made this seem like a good idea. Thankfully, I'm older and stupid in completely different ways now.
My plan worked pretty well, in the sense that we quickly became friends. It got to the point where she and I had lunch together a few times a week, and if she came over and he wasn't there she'd immediately come up to my room to hang out. Somewhere in that semester I'd been doing ballroom dancing with my sister, so I'd practice my newly acquired swing dancing moves with her to the strains of "It Had to Be You" (from the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack). She was allowed to raid my perpetual stash of ice cream, and I occasionally gave her a lift to her parents house.
Eventually, my forecast came true and she and my brother broke up. A few months later I made my play. I no longer recall what exactly I said, but I do remember the look of confusion, or possibly horror, she had. Apparently being friends was all she had even thought about, and the idea that I might have made friends for ulterior motives was (rightly) disturbing. She stopped hanging out at the house shortly after that, and we didn't see much of each other after that. So I guess we weren't that good of friends after all. Or maybe she thought that I didn't want to be just friends.
Thankfully, I'm still good friends with the brother in question; we hit up Cleveland sporting events with some regularity. He is still smarter, better looking and more interesting than me. I'm good friends with one member of that sorority (hi dmw7!) Most of the various other relationships that had been struck up between members of that sorority and my fraternity ended up dying out eventually, but one of them did end up with a marriage. The woman in question ended up dating another guy on campus who I knew and married him. So far as I know they're still together.
As literary convention would have it, this story has an epilogue. About three days before graduation I ran into her near this pyramid shaped fountain that is on campus. We had a brief amicable chat, and one final dance to "It Had to Be You."
Or so I choose to remember it. When in doubt, print the legend.
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
With all your faults I love you still
It had to be you, wonderful you
It had to be you
Harry Connick Jr. Written by Isham Jones & Gus Kahn, performed by many.
It Had To Be You
In my fraternity it was not uncommon for two or more brothers to find the same woman attractive. This most typically caused problems when a girl would break up with one brother and then start a relationship with another brother. Occasionally it would be more serious as one brother would attempt to flirt or more than flirt with another brother's girlfriend. Thankfully the latter pattern was uncommon in my chapter. I'd like to tell you that I was honorable enough not to stab anyone in the back over a girl. I'd sure like to be able to tell you that.
I can't though. It would be a lie. Or at least a half-truth.
My first senior year a number of the members of one of the campus sororities ended up hanging out at our house. Not surprisingly, most of my brothers had no real objection to attractive women hanging out at the house. There was one girl in particular who I developed a massive crush on the first time I met her. Regrettably, I was about five hours too late. I met her several hours after she'd gone on a first date with one of my brothers, which led to them dating for a substantial length of time; at least six months as I recall.
The brother in question was, speaking frankly, smarter, better looking and more interesting than me. However, as I knew him pretty well I doubted that the relationship had long term potential. I figured that if I made friends with this girl when they inevitably broke up I'd be well positioned to step in, which didn't offend my sense of honor like hitting on her while they were dating did.
I'll pause so you can laugh and/or sigh at that fabulous bit of stupidity. In my defense, I was a lot younger and stupider then. More to the point, every single girl I dated in high school and college hit on me first. Why? Probably because I wasn't very good at talking to new people back then, especially new people who were attractive females. That inexperience probably made this seem like a good idea. Thankfully, I'm older and stupid in completely different ways now.
My plan worked pretty well, in the sense that we quickly became friends. It got to the point where she and I had lunch together a few times a week, and if she came over and he wasn't there she'd immediately come up to my room to hang out. Somewhere in that semester I'd been doing ballroom dancing with my sister, so I'd practice my newly acquired swing dancing moves with her to the strains of "It Had to Be You" (from the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack). She was allowed to raid my perpetual stash of ice cream, and I occasionally gave her a lift to her parents house.
Eventually, my forecast came true and she and my brother broke up. A few months later I made my play. I no longer recall what exactly I said, but I do remember the look of confusion, or possibly horror, she had. Apparently being friends was all she had even thought about, and the idea that I might have made friends for ulterior motives was (rightly) disturbing. She stopped hanging out at the house shortly after that, and we didn't see much of each other after that. So I guess we weren't that good of friends after all. Or maybe she thought that I didn't want to be just friends.
Thankfully, I'm still good friends with the brother in question; we hit up Cleveland sporting events with some regularity. He is still smarter, better looking and more interesting than me. I'm good friends with one member of that sorority (hi dmw7!) Most of the various other relationships that had been struck up between members of that sorority and my fraternity ended up dying out eventually, but one of them did end up with a marriage. The woman in question ended up dating another guy on campus who I knew and married him. So far as I know they're still together.
As literary convention would have it, this story has an epilogue. About three days before graduation I ran into her near this pyramid shaped fountain that is on campus. We had a brief amicable chat, and one final dance to "It Had to Be You."
Or so I choose to remember it. When in doubt, print the legend.
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You