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They Don’t Dance Like Carmen No More

by Jimmy Buffett

from the album A White Sport Coat and A Pink Crustacean

Lyrics

Walkin’ down new streets the music is loud
Neon signs bring in tumultuous crowds
But I’m just an old man, I’d probably get sore
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen no more

She and old Cougie, my what a pair
Doin’ the Rhumba as no one else dared
Slidin’ and glidin’ ‘cross Hollywood floors
But they don’t dance like Carmen no more

She had a big hat, my it was high
Had bananas and mangos all piled to the sky
And how she could balance them, I wouldn’t dare
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen nowhere

But the lady’s not with us, she died long ago
And they don’t run her movies on late midnight shows
‘Cause the kids would get restless, and the grown-ups would snore
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen no more

She and old Cougie, my what a pair
Doin’ the Rhumba as no one else dared
Slidin’ and glidin’ ‘cross Hollywood floors
But they don’t dance like Carmen no more

Nah, they don’t dance like Carmen no more

Jimmy’s Note:

I loved Carmen Miranda before I knew her name. Her hat was filled with fruit piled up to the sky. I guess this song came out of my “Cuban period” when I first got to Key West and came in contact with the Latin passion for fun.