Stephen Sondheim
You Gotta Get a Gimmick
[MAZEPPA]
You can pull all the stops out
Till they call the cops out
Grind your behind till you're banned
But you gotta get a gimmick
If you want to get a hand
You can sacrifice your sacro
Working in the back row
Bump in a dump till you're dead
Kid, you've gotta get a gimmick
If you want to get ahead
You can uh, you can uh
You can uh, uh, uh—
That's how burlesque was born
So I uh, and I uh
And I uh, uh, uh—
But I do it with a horn
Once I was a schlepper
Now I'm Miss Mazeppa
With my Revolution in Dance
You gotta have a gimmick
If you want to have a chance
[ELECTRA]
She can uh, she can uh
She can uh, uh, uh—
They'll never make her rich
Me, I uh, and I uh
And I uh, uh, uh—
But I do it with a switch!
I'm electrifying
And I'm not even trying
I never had to sweat to get paid
'Cause if you got a gimmick
Gypsy girl, you've got it made!
[TESSIE]
All them uh and them uh
And them uh, uh, uh—
Ain't gonna spell success
Me, I uh, and I uh
And I uh, uh, uh—
But I do it with finesse!
Dressy Tessie Tura
Is so much more demure-a
Than all them other ladies because
You gotta get a gimmick
If you wanna get applause!
[MAZEPPA, ELECTRA & TESSIE]
Do something special
Anything special
Do something special
Anything special
You're more than just a mimic
When you got a gimmick
Take a look how different we are
[ELECTRA]
If you wanna make it
Twinkle while you shake it
[TESSIE]
If you wanna grind it
Wait till you've refined it
[MAZEPPA]
If you wanna bump it
Bump it with a trumpet
[MAZEPPA, ELECTRA & TESSIE]
So get yourself a gimmick
And you, too
Can be a star!