Tango - Peggy Lee

Oh the tango is done with a thin black moustache

A wide scarlet sash, black boots and a whip

Or the tango is done with seafaring trash

Callous and brash, fresh off the ship

Or the tango is done as a dangerous dance

A treacherous step and if one should trip

The frail body breaks with a snap and a twist

And a gold watch slips onto a thick tattooed wrist

And a gray merchant ship turns black in the sun

As it heaves to the East when the tango is done

Butterflies mounted on fields of black velvet

Neatly arranged in gleaming glass trays

One-eyed Etruscans play follow-the-leader

Forever around the edge of the vase

The phonograph’s playing an old broken record

A tango and over and over it plays

Over it plays

Over it plays

A medieval tapestry hangs like a warning

A needlepoint forest of dark green and brown

The scene is the hunt, you will notice the hunter

He takes careful aim as your eye travels down

And finally rests upon the real victim

Lying quite still in a silk dressing gown

Lying quite still at the edge of the carpet

One arm flung out for the peacocks to peck

Blending in well with the blue and green background

Except for the bright scarlet sash round the neck

He was a collector of beautiful strangers

And life was a party right up to the end

The door always opened to love and loves dangers

Though dead, a lover, a stranger, a friend

Butterflies mounted on fields of black velvet

Neatly arranged in gleaming glass trays

One-eyed Etruscans play follow-the-leader

Forever around the edge of the vase

The phonograph’s playing an old broken record

A tango and over and over it plays

Over it plays