Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 13:19:41 CST From: Joan Hall Subject: Re: song lyrics With ref to "He's just as wild," compare the DARE entry for _be_ sense B5a (page 178, col 1), where there is a fair amount of evidence for "I's(e)" meaning "I was." It's labelled "esp Midl, Sth." A reference you might want to follow up is 1966 _American Speech_ 41.77, which says, in part: "In the 'common speech' ..in Pennsylvania and the rural South,...a form _I's_ is very frequently heard in contexts which seem to require the past tense .._I's_ (past) is evidently a contraction of _I was_." Joan Hall, DARE