Dance Away The Good Times

Time for a song. A rather silly one just made up for fun.

It's a Friday night, it's a tidy night

To step out hand in hand

To have a ball at the old church hall

With Mr Jackson's band

The sound of his accordion

It is my heart's delight

And the finest girls in all the world

Will all be there tonight

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music ends

Little Amy Robinson

She hurries home from school

To try on her new party dress

She shines just like a jewel

With mother's bracelets on her wrist

And ribbons in her hair

Oh me oh my, she'll make em fly

As soon as she gets there

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music ends

And Suzy girl she's a crazy girl

How she loves to dance

She sets on fire the coldest heart

With just a fleeting glance

And the fiddler's going frantic

And the calling's all awry

For the tambourine plays twice as fast

When Suzy's passing by

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music ends

Then Mr Smith and Mrs Smith

Can stand and watch no more

Before too long both old and young

Are dancing round the floor

Mrs Smith she likes the boys

She'll dance with all she can

But she keeps one eye on Suzy

When she gets near her old man

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music ends

Now Uncle Bert you should see him flirt

With Old Mathilda Grimes

She's quite forgot her poor old back

That gives her gyp sometimes

She says "This beats the bingo

And the over-sixties club

It sets me all a-tingle 

Like a hot rheumatic rub"

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music ends

And good old Granny Whitmore

She's throwed her sticks away

And everyone's still having fun

As the last waltz starts to play

Then the young ones leave in motor cars

With their husbands and their lovers

And the old uns totter down the street

Holding on to one another

So dance away the good times

While the moon shines down upon the frosty fens

Warm in the arms of a handsome boy

Until the music.......

None of the above really happened - though it must have happened thousands of times. It was inspired by a rollicking evening spent at a village dance many years ago. All the characters are people I've known at various times masquerading, in some cases, under different names and turning up, in my imagination at least, at this dance. Mr Jackson is an old friend, a multi-talented musician whose instruments include trumpet, accordion, piano, guitar, whistle, sitar, Northumbrian pipes...you get the picture. Suzy's his lovely wife. Uncle Bert wasn't my uncle but is already known to long-time readers of this blog. All the others are people whom I've encountered along the way.

Some other things might need a little explanation:
'Fridee' rhymes with 'tidee' in Cambridgeshire and tidy means "good" in this context.
'Calling's all awry' - country dances have a "caller" who explains the moves as the dance takes place. Many of the dances are "progressive" ie people change partners during the dance; this was the cause of Mrs Smith's concern!
'Gives her gyp' means 'causes her pain'

Take care.