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1. SWEETHEART
2. TEN CENTS A DANCE
I work at the Palace Ballroom,
but, gee that Palace is cheap;
when I get back to my chilly hall room
I'm much too tired to sleep.
I'm one of those lady teachers,
a beautiful hostess, you know,
one that the Palace features
at exactly a dime a throw.
Ten cents a dance
that's what they pay me,
gosh, how they weigh me down!
Ten cents a dance
pansies and rough guys
tough guys who tear my gown!
Seven to midnight I hear drums.
Loudly the saxophone blows.
Trumpets are tearing my eardrums.
Customers crush my toes.
Sometime I think
I've found my hero,
but it's a queer romance.
All that you need is a ticket
Come on, big boy, ten cents a dance.
Fighters and tailors and bowlegged sailors
can pay for their tickets and rent me!
Butchers and barbers and rats from the harbors
are sweethearts my good luck has sent me.
Though I've a chorus of elderly beaux,
stockings are porous with hole at the toes.
I'm here till closing time.
Dance and be merry, it's only a dime.
Sometime I think
I've found my hero,
but it's a queer romance.
All that you need is a ticket
Come on, big boy, ten cents a dance
4. HOW INSENSITIVE
How insensitive
I must have seemed
when he told me that he loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When he said it so sincerely
Why, he must have asked,
Would I just turn and stare in icy silence?
What was I to say?
What can you say when a love affair is over?
Now hes gone away
And Im alone
With the memory of his last look
Vague and drawn and sad
I see it still, all his heartache in that last look
How, he must have asked,
Would I just turn and stare in icy silence?
What was I to do?
What can one do...
When a love affair is over?
6. KING OF THE ROAD (INSTRUMENTAL)
8. IN THE GLOAMING
In the gloaming, oh my darling,
When the lights are dim and low,
And the quiet shadows falling,
Softly come, and softly go.
When the trees are sighing faintly,
With a gentle lull of woe,
Will you think of me and love me,
As you did once long ago?
In the gloaming, oh my darling,
Think not bitterly of me,
Though I passed away in silence,
Left you lonely, set you free.
For my heart was crushed with longing,
What had been could never be,
It was best to leave you thus dear,
Best for you, and best for me.
It was best to leave you thus,
Best for you, and best for me.
10. I REMEMBER
I remember sky
It was blue as ink
Or at least I think
I remember sky
I remember snow
Soft as feathers
Sharp as thumbtacks
Coming down like lint
And it made you squint
When the wind would blow
And ice like vinyl on the streets
Cold as silver, white as sheets
Rain like strings
And changing things like leaves
I remember leaves
Green as spearmint
Crisp as paper
I remember trees
Bare as coat racks
Spread like broken umbrellas
And parks and bridges
Ponds and zoos
Ruddy faces, muddy shoes
Light and noise
And bees and boys
And days
I remember days or at least I try
But as years go by
They're a sort of haze
And the bluest ink
Isn't really sky
And at times I think
I would gladly die
For a day of sky
12. SCARLET RIBBONS
I peeked in to say goodnight
and I saw my child in prayer.
"...and for me, some scarlet ribbons,
scarlet ribbons for my hair."
All the stores were closed and shuttered,
all the streets were dark and bare.
In our town, no scarlet ribbons,
scarlet ribbons for hair.
Through the night, my heart was aching,
just before the dawn was breaking.
I peeked in and on her pillow,
on her pillow lying there.
Lovely ribbons, scarlet ribbons,
scarlet ribbons for her hair.
If I live to be a hundred,
I will never know from where
Came those ribbons, scarlet ribbons,
scarlet ribbons for her hair.
14. SURABAYA JOHNNY
I was young, I was just sixteen then,
when you came up from Burma one day.
And you told me to pack up my suitcase,
and I did, and you took me away.
When I asked how you earned your living
Oh, I can still hear what you said to me
You had some kind of job with the railroad,
and had nothing to do with the sea.
You said a lot, Johnny. All one big lie.
You sure had me fooled, Johnny, from the minute we met.
I hate you when you laugh at me like that.
Now, you take that pipe out of your mouth, you rat.
Surabaya Johnny. Why'd you treat me so rough?
Surabaya Johnny. And I do love you so.
Surabaya Johnny. Why am I feeling so low?
You have no heart, Johnny, and I do love you so.
At the start, every day was Sunday
'til I packed up and went off with you.
And it lasted two weeks until one day
you laughed at me and you hit me too.
You dragged me all over the cities,
up the river and down to the sea.
Now when I look at myself in the mirror,
there's an old woman looking back at me.
You didn't want love, Johnny, you wanted cash.
But I saw your lips, Johnny, and that was that.
You wanted it all, Johnny. I gave you more.
Now you take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat.
Surabaya Johnny. Why'd you treat me so rough?
Surabaya Johnny. And I do love you so.
Surabaya Johnny. Why am I feeling so low?
You have no heart, Johnny, and I do love you so.
I would never have dared to ask you
how you got that peculiar name,
but at every hotel that we stopped at,
I found out, but I love you all the same.
And one day in a Cuban flophouse
I wake up to the roar of the sea.
And you leave without one word of warning
on that ship waiting down on the Key.
You have no heart, Johnny. You're just no good.
How can you go, Johnny and leave me flat?
You feel my love, like that very first day.
Now you take that goddamn pipe out of your mouth, you rat.
Surabaya Johnny. Why'd you treat me so rough?
Surabaya Johnny. And I do love you so.
Surabaya Johnny. Why am I feeling so low?
You have no heart, Johnny, and I do love you so.
16. JOHNSBURG, ILLINOIS
She's my only true love
she's all that I think of
look here in my wallet
that's her
She grew up on a farm there
there's a place on my arm
where I've written her name
next to mine
you see I just can't
live without her
and I'm her only boy
and she grew up outside McHenry
in Johnsburg, Illinois
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