Ten Cents a Dance - Ruth Etting

Written by：Hart Lorenz/Rodgers Richard

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

I 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

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 sailors and bowlegged tailors

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 holes and the toes

I'm there till closing time

Dance and be merry it's only a dime

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

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