Who Sang Ten Cents A Dance? Ella Fitzgerald
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Credits
publisher: ©Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
writers: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
release date: 1956
genres: Jazz Stage & Screen
styles: Big Band/Swing
length: 4:10
producer: Norman Granz
engineer: Val Valentin
arranger: Buddy Bregman
orchestrator: Buddy Bregman
baritone saxophone: Chuck Gentry
bass: Joe Mondragon
bass trombone: George Roberts
conductor: Buddy Bregman
flugelhorn: Vincent DeRosa
flute: Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, Maurice Stein and Ted Nash
guitar: Barney Kessel
piano: Paul Smith
saxophone: Bob Cooper, Ted Nash, Maurice Stein and Bud Shank
trombone: Lloyd Ulyate, Milt Bernhart and Joe Howard
trumpet: Pete Candoli, Ray Linn, Conrad Gozzo and Maynard Ferguson
vocal: Ella Fitzgerald
drums (drum set): Alvin Stoller
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 ear-drums, customers crush my toes.
Sometimes 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 sailers and bow-legged tailors
Can pay for their tickets & rent me
Butchers and barbers and rats from the harbor
Are sweethearts my good luck has sent me
Thought I've a chorus of elderly bows
Stockings are porous with holes at the toes
I'm here till closing time
Dance and be merry it's only a dime
Sometimes I think, I've found my hero
But it's a queer romance
All that you need is a ticket.
Come on, come on big boy, ten cents a dance.
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 ear-drums, customers crush my toes.
Sometimes 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 sailers and bow-legged tailors
Can pay for their tickets & rent me
Butchers and barbers and rats from the harbor
Are sweethearts my good luck has sent me
Thought I've a chorus of elderly bows
Stockings are porous with holes at the toes
I'm here till closing time
Dance and be merry it's only a dime
Sometimes I think, I've found my hero
But it's a queer romance
All that you need is a ticket.
Come on, come on big boy, ten cents a dance.
