Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: show-tunes
Song Meaning of “Ten Cents A Dance” by Chita Rivera
Ten Cents A Dance depicts the narrator’s experience as a taxi dancer. A taxi dancer is someone that dances with people for a fee, often at a dance hall or nightclub. Through her lyrical narrative, the narrator paints a vivid picture of her plight.
The song starts off by her expressing her desire for more than she’s getting out of her job: “Oh, I’d like to give my heart away
But somehow I’m afraid I’d only get ten cents a dance”. This speaks to the loneliness she feels in her job. Her heart cannot be given to those that she is dancing with for a fee.
The chorus explains the reality of her circumstances: “Ten cents a dance, that’s what they pay me
But that don’t pay my old cabaret”. The cabaret in this instance is her life, and not getting the payment she desires gives life no meaning.
Subsequent verses go on to explain her fading hope of something she can call her own, a love she can call her own, “No man has ever wanted me just the way I am”. This speaks to her inner longing for a relationship that comes from real love, rather than a transaction.
The track ultimately ends with her declaring her reclaiming of her autonomy and independence: “Though I’m not a Nabob or Rockefeller, I can still be free to come and go”.