My dancing days are done.

My dancing days are done.

You've got to dance like nobody's watching and love like it's never going to hurt.

You've got to dance like nobody's watching and love like it's never going to hurt.

What! the girl I adore by another embraced?
What! the balm of her breath shall another man taste?
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What! the girl I adore by another embraced?
What! the balm of her breath shall another man taste?
What! pressed in the dance by another's man's knee?
What! panting recline on another than me?
Sir, she's yours; you have pressed from the grape its fine blue,
From the rosebud you've shaken the tremulous dew;
What you've touched you may take. Pretty waltzer--adieu!

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.

Such pains, such pleasures now alike are o'er,
And beaus and etiquette shall soon exist no more
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Such pains, such pleasures now alike are o'er,
And beaus and etiquette shall soon exist no more
At their speed behold advancing
Modern men and women dancing;
Step and dress alike express
Above, below from heel to toe,
Male and female awkwardness.
Without a hoop, without a ruffle,
One eternal jig and shuffle,
Where's the air and where's the gait?
Where's the feather in the hat?
Where the frizzed toupee? and where
Oh! where's the powder for the hair?

Dancing in the chequer'd shade.

Dancing in the chequer'd shade.

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who
could not hear the music.

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who
could not hear the music.

And the dancing has begun now,
And the dancers whirl round gaily
In the waltz's giddy mazes,
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And the dancing has begun now,
And the dancers whirl round gaily
In the waltz's giddy mazes,
And the ground beneath them trembles.

Come and trip it as ye go,
On the light fantastic toe.

Come and trip it as ye go,
On the light fantastic toe.