Ten Cents a Dance

By Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
1930

This song tells the melancholy tale of a "taxi dancer"--women who were employed in the early 20th century in dance halls in which male customers paid to dance with them. It was introduced by the legendary Ruth Etting in the Florenz Ziegfeld-produced stage musical Simple Simon. Etting replaced Lee Morse, the actress for whom the song was written, when Morse showed up to the Boston premiere intoxicated. Etting later had a major hit with the song, and the following year it inspired a film starring Barbara Stanwyck. Doris Day performed the song in the 1955 Etting biopic, Love Me or Leave Me.

Lyrics: 

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 knowOne 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 romanceAll 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.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Anita O'Day
Shirley Horn
Twiggy
Ralph Sharon Trio