Come Dancing

By the Kinks

They put a parking lot on a piece of land
Where the supermarket used to stand
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local Palais
That's where the big bands used to come and play
My sister went there on a Saturday

Come dancin'
All her boyfriends used to come and call
Why not come dancin'
It's only natural

Another Saturday another date
She would be ready but she'd always make him wait
In the hallway in anticipation
He didn't know the night would end up in frustration
He'd end up blowing all his wages for the week
All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek

Come dancin'
That's how they did it when I was just a kid
And when they said come dancin'
My sister always did

My sister should have come in at midnight
And my mom would always sit up and wait
It always ended up in a big row
When my sister used to get home late

Out of my window I can see them in the moonlight
Two silhouettes saying goodnight
By the garden gate

The day they knocked down the Palais
My sister stood and cried
The day they knocked down the Palais
Part of my childhood died... just died

Now I'm grown up and playing in a band
And there's a car park where the Palais used to stand
My sister's married and she lives on an estate
Her daughters go out, now it's her turn to wait
She knows they get away with things she never could
But if I asked her, I wonder if she would

Come dancin'
Come on sister, have yourself a ball
Don't be afraid to come dancin'
It's only natural

Come dancin'
Just like the Palais on a Saturday
And all your friends will come dancin'
Where the big band used to play

source of the lyrics

God bless the iTMS! I got this song and another Kinks favorite of mine, Father Christmas, the other day.

This song is rather cool because it's a song about him being nostalgic about growing up with his sister. However, for me, it's a nostalgic song about when I was growing up. I remember seeing the video for this song on Friday Night Videos, long before cable and MTV (back when they actually played music) made it out to the hills that we called home. Mom would set the VCR to record Friday Night Videos late on Friday nights, and my brother and I (and usually my Mom) would get up and watch them on Saturday mornings. This was one of the few videos I actually remember from those days. I guess I was eight or nine, so Tony must have been around six or seven.

And by the way, the best I can come up with for the word pally is that it's British slang for a dance club, what we would have probably called a discoteque. I actually googled around and that was all I could find. Evidently it's not used much any more (again, like discoteque).

Update 04/17/04: Per Amy, I've corrected all the mentions of "pally" with the correct "Palais."