TEN CENTS A DANCE
From the Broadway Musical "Simple Simon" (1930)
(Music: Richard Rodgers / Lyrics: Lorenz Hart)

Ruth Etting (Broadway Production) - 1930
High Hatters (vocal: Welcome Lewis) - 1930
Greta Keller - 1930
Jack Payne & His BBC Dance Orch. (vocal: Elsie Carlisle) - 1931
Jack Hylton & His Orch. (vocal: Pat O'Malley) - 1931
Roy Fox & His Band (vocal: Betty Bolton) - 1931
Clive Errard's Dance Band - 1931
Elsie Carlisle - 1931
Doris Day (feat. in the film "Love Me Or Leave Me") - 1955
Ella Fitzgerald - 1956
Lovey Powell & Brooks Morton - 1956
Shorty Rogers & His Giants (Instr.) - 1957
Ted Heath & His Music (Instr.) - 1959
Anita O'Day with Billy May's Orch. - 1960
Eileen Farrell - 1960
Chita Rivera - 1962
Shirley Horn - 1963
Carol Burnett - 1963
Pat Dahl - 1966
Chris Connor - 1972
Nancy Nevins - 1975
Frank Chacksfield, His Orch. & Chorus - 1975
Joan Morris - 1981
Dorothy Loudon - 1986

Also recorded by:
K.T. Sullivan; Ralph Sharon Trio; Elisabeth Welch; Chase Masterson;
Deborah Holland; Rebecca Kilgore; Stefanie Powers; Wesla Whitfield;
Barbara Lea; Abbey Lincoln; Billy Mayerl; Pam Munter; Janet Seidel;
Johanna Spanjerberg; Megan Mullally; Kim Criswell; Elizabeth Curtis;
Nancy Hayes; Ethel Merman; Emily Bergl .......... and others.



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
The kind 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 breaking 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 sailors and bowlegged tailors
Can pay for a ticket and rent me
Butchers and barbers and rats from the harbours
Are sweethearts my good luck has sent me

Though I've a chorus of elderly beaus
Stockings are porous with holes in the toes
I'm there till closing time
Dance and be merry, it's only a dim.

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 breaking 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


(Contributed by ebollendorf - August 2005)
(Updated by Mel Priddle - April 2016)