Dance with Me, Gorgeous

-- Influence #6: I tend to admire people who do something that I'm fairly sure is impossible for me to do. That might be why I find dancing fascinating. Who needs magicians when you can watch dancers? What's more, I feel like you can appreciate something so much more when it's clear you'd fail miserably if you tried to copy what you're seeing. I tend to be critical of anything theatrical, because in the back of my mind, I always think--I could give that a shot, and maybe do it just as well. Watching good dancing, however, is like watching those Indian rubber people. I just shake my head and say 'I wouldn't even begin to know how...' In addition to everything else, I love anything with the word 'dance' in the title. It's just such a great word. I once wrote a piece that I loved called "Kiss Your Mother Boys, She's Been Dancing," that my friends still make fun of to this day. Keep in mind, I've been working on The Glass Menagerie, so if this sounds a bit like Jim, the Gentleman Caller, forgive me. So, do you want to dance? --

"Dance with Me, Gorgeous"

It's balmy
That's what I would call tonight
I'd say it's balmy
I love a balmy night
When the world feels like a steam room
Gets you to sweat
Gets all the toxins out
That's what I like

These socks are driving me crazy
They're itchy
You ever wear itchy socks?
They're all I wear
I buy pair after pair
Can't seem to find any
That don't drive me nuts
That's just my luck, I guess

I like the sounds my shoes make
When I'm walking across a floor
Nicely polished
The floor, not the shoes
The shoes are all scuffed up
I can't seem to keep 'em clean
Not my talent
Keeping things clean

Tomorrow I'm turning seventy-three
Can you believe it?
Seventy-three years old?
It feels like yesterday
It all feels like yesterday
Except for yesterday
That I can't remember
But everything else is crystal clear

. . . . .

Would you like to dance?
I know you're shy
I can tell a shy girl
And you, miss, are shy
There aren't shy girls anymore
Did you know that?
They've gone extinct

My granddaughters
They're brazen
I love them for it
But that's what they are
They don't know what 'shy' is
You can believe that

I wouldn't mind
Dancing with a shy girl
Might be nice
Might remind me
Of yesterday

I heard about your husband
My deepest sympathies
I lost my wife a few years back
It feels like yesterday
But it's been a few years
I wake up
I look over
To her side of the bed
She's not there
It's not yesterday
It's strange
But you know
Life does what it does

So you don't want to dance?
I know you haven't said no
But you haven't said yes either
You're just sort of looking
Like you're going to cry
Is that because of me
Or your husband
Or because you can't dance
Or because you don't want to
But you're wishing that you could want to?
Any of those sound familiar?
Anything I can do to help you
Pick out which problem you're facing?

Ain't it a sad thing
When you're sad
But you don't know why you're sad?
It's like being sick
But not knowing what medicine to take
I take so much medicine
I forget what's supposed to do what
Couldn't tell you
If you quizzed me on it

Well, I'll leave you alone
For a few minutes anyway
But I'll be back
I'll be back as a young man
To ask you again
I had more confidence
When I was younger
That's who you need to talk to
You need to talk to me
Back when it was yesterday

. . . . .

Hey Gorgeous!

Gee, don't stand there
Don't just stand there
Get out there
Out there on the dance floor
Can't you hear 'em playing?
They're playing so good tonight
So good I can hardly stand it

And I just got new shoes
Brand spanking new
Shiny as the floor
They're going on
Aren't they a pair?
Huh?
Don't you think?

Why are you so quiet?
You shy or something?
Gee, every girl's shy nowadays
Why is that?
Can't get a girl to talk to you
Even when you're wearing new shoes
Ain't that something?

I'm just itchin' to dance
I can feel it in my toes
They're feeling like...
Like...
Like they're going to crawl
Right out of my socks
And do their own dancin'
If you don't say 'Yes' to me soon, Gorgeous

It's a hot kind of night, ain't it?
I wasn't going to go out
I was going to stay in tonight
Get some reading done
I read, you know?
I'm a regular scholar
But then tonight rolled around
And it just got so balmy
The air--
Gee, the air
You could practically taste
The salt in it

And you just have to go out
When it's like that
All salty like sweat
Dripping down a girl's chest
Well
You have to go out
In weather like that

Aw, I made you blush
I'm sorry, Gorgeous
Just trying to get a response from you
Don't want you to feel bad
You don't, do you?

Say, you got a guy?
You got a guy already?
Is that it?
Where is he?
Off fighting, I bet
You look like a soldier's girl
But I don't see a ring on your finger

I won't try to steal you
I just need a dancing partner
A one, two, three and that'll be it
I promise
Word of honor

Now, would I lie
To a soldier's girl?

Tomorrow's my twenty-third birthday
Can you believe it?
I'm an old man!
Just ship me off on an iceberg
That's what I told my pals today
Can't imagine myself
Being much older

After a certain point
I bet you just wither away
You can't dance anymore
And who wants to live
If they can't dance?
That's not living
Not if you ask me
Which you didn't
But still
It's true, Gorgeous
It is true

Oh say
I didn't see that ribbon
Your guy
He's gone, ain't he?
Gee, I didn't know
How long ago?
A few weeks
Aw, I'm sorry
I really am

And this was probably
Your first night back
Since you heard
Just wanted to get away
And be left alone, huh?

Maybe you just couldn't stay in the house
Couldn't take the air anymore
Is that it?
Gee, Gorgeous, I apologize
He was a hero though
Do you know that?
You must
You must know he was a hero
And you should be real proud
That he had someone like you
To dance with

But you're still here, you know
And as long as you're here
It's just plain silly
Not to really be here
Standing in a dance hall
Not dancing
Watching everybody else live

You know
I had to stop going to church
Not because I'm a heathen
But because they want you to pray
So quietly in church
And I don't buy that
I'm a loud guy
I got a big mouth
But I can celebrate loudly, can't I?
I don't see why prayers
Have to be quiet

What do you say we go out there
And we dance a little prayer
Dance one right out
For your boy
For your hero
We'll live a little
And laugh a little
And that'll be it
I promise

I can see you starting to nod
I can see your foot tapping
And you're going to say 'Yes,' aren't you?
Before you know it
Today'll be over
And you'll be glad you did it
And that you got through another day

You'll be glad you made the best of yesterday
I can promise you that
So come on
Gimme your hands
And I won't get fresh
I'll just make you laugh
Or I'll try to at least
With this big mouth of mine

Once around the floor
And I'll let you come back
And be shy
Just as soon as you dance with me

C'mon
Dance with me, Gorgeous