the plot of the 'Diary' song written by David Gates

The early 1970s was an era of popularity for songs by ultra-sensitive males. David Gates is a prime example.

His song 'Diary' generates some controversy at YouTube over exactly what is meant by the lyric.

YouTube

Is the singer saying the woman he is singing about was his wife? Or that he had wished in vain she would someday become his wife? (By the end of the song she is some other fellow's wife.)

To me it seems pretty clear which was meant, but I will hold off on saying.

Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
The early 1970s was an era of popularity for songs by ultra-sensitive males. David Gates is a prime example.

His song 'Diary' generates some controversy at YouTube over exactly what is meant by the lyric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24IfD-0VUu4

Is the singer saying the woman he is singing about was his wife? Or that he had wished in vain sh ...[text shortened]... r fellow's wife.)

To me it seems pretty clear which was meant, but I will hold off on saying.

The late Dan Fogelberg was another like this.

Some of his most sentimental were "Same Old Lang Syne", "Hard to Say", "Leader of the Band", and "Run for the Roses", all from The Innocent Age in 1981, perhaps his best album.

Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
To me it seems pretty clear which was meant, but I will hold off on saying.

I see two smoking guns...

* He found the diary "underneath a tree," not "in our dresser drawer" or something like that. This suggests he doesn't live in the same dwelling with the woman.

* She never overtly showed passion toward him, he admits. Hardly spouse material, then.

So I am with the listeners who think the singer never was married to the woman.