Filks of Shall We Dance

[Arthur T.]

I started these months apart, but finished them together (with RMF
help about the scansion). The original can be seen/heard at
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgVPnWmUqd4>.

Title: Life's A Mess
ttto: Shall We Dance by Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein

We're living in bad times
But then we always were
What should we go on doing,
And just what should we defer

We cannot just stay still
Life goes on as we bide
And so we see we're in for
"Interesting" bumpy ride

Life's a mess (is it me?)
Everything's going wrong now, though I try (all's awry)
I'm a mess (is it life?)
I must curse; it's too much for just a sigh (ai ai ai!)
And this mess
It should make every person wonder why (as do I)
Do we still bother living
In this world so unforgiving
Where the bastards have all success
Can we change rules for winning
Maybe have a new beginning
To this mess
I'm a mess
It's a mess


Title: Make A Wish
ttto: Shall We Dance by Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein

We try to bend the rules
The universe says "No"
But still we look for loopholes
That can make our mojo grow

Of all the many ways
The sky's the biggest call
It gives us hope we might be
Significant - not so small

There's a star! Make a wish,
On the first evening light to hit your eye (from on high)
Meteor! Make a wish
Make it fast 'fore the streak has left the sky (say good-bye)
There's a hitch
All the rules of the cosmos still apply (so I sigh)
So your wish has no meaning
There's no magic intervening
It's your own work will make you rich
But placebos are mighty
Let us not dismiss them lightly
Make your wish
Make your wish
Make your wish


My lyrics copyright 2022 by Arthur Tansky. License granted for
non-commercial, non-political archiving and performance as long as:
1. copyright notice is maintained, and
2. no money changes hands.

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

Guessing a lyricist's opinions from his songs is as futile as
guessing an author's opinions from his novels.

[Joe Kesselman]

Nicely done.

I don't tend to say all four syllables of "interesting" unless I'm
deliberately drawing it out, so I'd be tempted to sing

"Interesting" bumpy ride
as
An "int'resting" bumpy ride



"Ah yes. Life's like that," says the moon, picking her teeth with a tree
branch. (Misquoted from _The Fourth Tower Of Inverness_, ZBS media)

[Arthur T.]

In Message-ID:<t8e8es$omg$1...@dont-email.me>,

Joe Kesselman <keshlam.c...@verizon.net> wrote:

>I don't tend to say all four syllables of "interesting" unless I'm
>deliberately drawing it out,

Same here, except that I almost always hear it (in my mind) as four
syllables when I'm writing lyrics. Ditto three syllables (rather than
two) for "interest".

>so I'd be tempted to sing
>
> "Interesting" bumpy ride
>as
> An "int'resting" bumpy ride

Thank you. That's an improvement, as it's also better grammar.