I Won't Dance

I Won't Dance
music by Jerome Kern (near left) & Jimmy McHugh (far left)
lyric by Otto Harbach (top center) & Dorothy Fields (center) & Oscar Hammerstein II (top right)

Think of what you're losing by constantly refusing to dance with me.
You'd be the idol of France with me!
And yet you stand there and shake your foolish head dramatic'lly
While I wait here so ecstatic'lly you just look and say emphatic'lly
Not this season! There's a reason!

I won't dance! Don't ask me; I won't dance! Don't ask me;
I won't dance, Madame, with you.
My heart wo't let my feet do things that they should do!

You know what? You're lovely,

And so what? I'm lovely!
But oh! What you do to me!
I'm like an ocean wave that's bounced on the shore;
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor!

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle!
'Spec'lly when you do the "Continental."
But this feeling isn'y purely mental; for heaven rest us, I'm not asbestos.

And that's why I won't dance! Why should I?
I won't dance! How could I?
I won't dance! Merci beaucoup!
I know that music leads the way to romance:
So if I hold you in my arms I won't dance!