A thing I didn’t know, from a military reader in Illinois:

“Mr. Derbyshire—Your bit on riffs on Cole Porter lyrics reminded me of

Ring Lardner’s piece on ‘Night and Day.’ Lardner was fascinated by the

lines: ‘Night and day under the hide of me / There’s an Oh, such a hungry

yearning, burning inside of me,’ and proposed some variants. A couple were:

“‘Night and day under the rind of me / There’s an Oh, such a zeal for

spooning, ru’ning the mind of me,’ (my favorite)

“and

“‘Night and day under the bark of me / There’s an Oh, such a mob of microbes

making a park of me.’

“The piece is titled ‘Night and Day,’ and is in ‘The Ring Lardner Reader.”

I can see a word-game developing here, and am bracing for a flood of ‘Under

the X of me’ suggestions.