I DANCED ON MY MOTHER’S TOES
(Hali Hammer)

I was raised in a 3-room apartment in the Bronx up the wide marble stairs
My Dad worked all day for a small bit of pay,
Mom typed, sewed, cooked, cleaned, did repairs
How I wish that she’d had it more easy in the whirlwind that made up her day
But she’d stop for a while, brush her hair back & smile,
Then we’d set out some time just for play

It was 1-2-3-, 1-2-3, Please don’t stop, dance with me, Look at the room start to spin
1-2-3-,1-2-3, Never let go of me, now it is time for the turn
The song you sing to me, oh it is so pretty, I love the way that it goes
To the left, to the right, everything is all right when I dance on my mother’s toes

It started when I was so little, I’d step right up onto her shoes
And there I would stand as she’d hold my small hands, then slowly we started to move
As I grew, she would teach me new dance steps - polka, jitterbug, foxtrot, mambo
But I never outgrew that feeling I knew when I danced on my mother’s toes

It was 1-2-3-, 1-2-3, Please don’t stop, dance with me, Look at the room start to spin
1-2-3-,1-2-3, Never let go of me, now it is time for the turn
The song you sing to me, oh it is so pretty, I love the way that it goes
To the left, to the right, everything is all right when I dance on my mother’s toes

Now those days of the past have all ended, Mom & Dad have a house of their own
Where I spent all my teens & grew into my dreams,
so far from the life that we’d known
And Mom takes it a little more easy, though she’s still moving far from slow
But I wonder sometimes if she thinks of the times
when she danced round with me on her toes

It was 1-2-3-, 1-2-3, Please don’t stop, dance with me, Look at the room start to spin
1-2-3-,1-2-3, Never let go of me, now it is time for the turn