Ten Cents a Dance

"Ten Cents a Dance"
"Ten Cents a Dance"
Song
Published	1930
Genre	Tin Pan Alley, Vocal jazz
Composer(s)	Richard Rodgers
Lyricist(s)	Lorenz Hart

Last updated March 02, 2025

"Ten Cents a Dance" is a popular song with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart.^[1] The song was published in 1930.

Background

The song lyrics tell of a taxi dancer lamenting the hardships of her job. The song was originally written for Lee Morse who was acting in the musical Simple Simon, but when Morse showed up intoxicated at the Boston opening of the musical, Florenz Ziegfeld fired her. She was replaced by Ruth Etting in the show, and Etting popularized the song as well in a Columbia recording made in 1930. This recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2012, it was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.^[2]

Reprises

Ella Fitzgerald recorded this song in 1956 on her Verve double-album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook .
Cass Elliot on The Andy Williams Show , circa 1970.^[3]
Joan Morris and William Bolcom recorded it for their 1981 LP, "The Rodgers and Hart Album," and later included the track on "The Rodgers and Hart CD."
In 1985, the song was recorded by the British folk band Pyewackett on their LP 7 To Midnight ^[4]

Popular culture

Barbara Stanwyck starred in the film Ten Cents a Dance (1931), which was inspired by the song.
In the MGM biographical film about Etting, Love Me or Leave Me (1955), the song is performed by Doris Day. The Day recording was also released by Columbia.
Michelle Pfeiffer also performs the song in the film The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).
The Ruth Etting version of the song is part of the official soundtrack of the videogame BioShock 2 (2010).

Parodies

In the cartoon show Cow & Chicken episode "Supermodel Cow", Cow becomes a celebrity. After she loses popularity, she is found by her brother in a milk bar singing "10 Cents a Glass."^[5]
In the cartoon DuckTales , the story of how Scrooge McDuck met personal pilot Launchpad McQuack involves them dickering over McQuack's rate of pay, with McQuack confusingly suggesting "ten cents a dance" instead of "ten cents a mile."

References

↑ "www.cafesongbook.com". cafesongbook.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
↑ "The National Recording Registry 2011". National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. Library of Congress. May 24, 2012.
↑ Cass Elliot on The Andy Williams Show, performing "Ten Cents A Dance", circa 1970. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
↑ "7 To Midnight". Discogs . 1985.
↑ Video: "Cow & Chicken "Supermodel Cow" - KnowItAllVideo Video - Are you sick of the same old places?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2009-11-12.

External links

This pop song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "www.cafesongbook.com". cafesongbook.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021.

[2] "The National Recording Registry 2011". National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. Library of Congress. May 24, 2012.

[3] Cass Elliot on The Andy Williams Show, performing "Ten Cents A Dance", circa 1970. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.

[4] "7 To Midnight". Discogs . 1985.

[5] Video: "Cow & Chicken "Supermodel Cow" - KnowItAllVideo Video - Are you sick of the same old places?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2009-11-12.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Rodgers and Hart
Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart
Musicals	Fly with Me Poor Little Ritz Girl The Garrick Gaieties Dearest Enemy The Girl Friend Peggy-Ann A Connecticut Yankee Present Arms Chee-Chee Ever Green Simple Simon America's Sweetheart Jumbo On Your Toes Babes in Arms I'd Rather Be Right The Boys from Syracuse I Married an Angel Too Many Girls Higher and Higher Pal Joey By Jupiter
Songs	"Manhattan" "Mountain Greenery" "Here in My Arms" "Blue Room" "My Heart Stood Still" "Thou Swell" "To Keep My Love Alive" "You Took Advantage of Me" "With a Song in My Heart" "A Ship Without a Sail" "Dancing on the Ceiling" "Ten Cents a Dance" "He Was Too Good to Me" "I've Got Five Dollars" "Isn't It Romantic?" "Lover" "Mimi" "You Are Too Beautiful" "Blue Moon" "It's Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)" "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" "My Romance" "Little Girl Blue" "There's a Small Hotel" "Glad to Be Unhappy" "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" "Where or When" "I Wish I Were in Love Again" "My Funny Valentine" "Johnny One Note" "The Lady Is a Tramp" "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" "Spring Is Here" "Falling in Love with Love" "This Can't Be Love" "Sing for Your Supper" "I Like to Recognize the Tune" "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" "Give It Back to the Indians" "You're Nearer" "It Never Entered My Mind" "I Could Write a Book" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Ev'rything I've Got" "Wait till You See Her"