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Dancing in the Wrong Somebody's Arms

from Small Stars by Doug Davis

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about

I was adopted as an infant, and though I'd spend a good bit of time searching, I turned 50 without finding out much information about my birth parents. A few years back, I decided to try to write a series of narrative songs, inventing stories, scenarios, explanations for the real story I'd never know. This was the first one I wrote.

Not long after that, the project very surprisingly became unnecessary, but that's the story behind a different song.

lyrics

couldn't call it tragedy
they always had a laugh
she’d flash a devil’s grin when they'd
call her his better half

she told him she was sorry that
she'd never had more school
and he'd squeeze her tight and say goodnight
said he loved to kiss a fool

& they'd go round, & they'd go round
don't know how they stayed aground

never seemed to bother her
they had no scratch to spare
they'd share a beer and do without
and no one seemed to care

back before he got his first promotion and a pin
somehow something clicked
when he acquired a taste for gin

but you can't hold back,
you can't hold back
when you're on that inside track

tell me what you wouldn't do
to keep your love from harm
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms

strangest thing, they never fought
wouldn't see them in a funk
she'd fly around the room a bit
he'd go out, get some drunk
but most the time you'd have to guess
they were heading down the path
wasn't hard to see the days ahead
to do the math

but you never know
you never know
when your tomorrow's long ago

don't go crying wolf again
don't sound that false alarm
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms

he'd been gone near half a year
don't think he ever knew
she went down to County
did the thing she had to do
don't suppose we'll ever hear
a word from them again
they've disappeared into the night
just like they'd never been

what might have been
what might have been
such an unoriginal sin

and there's a part inside me
wonders where you are
dancing in the wrong somebody's arms

credits

from Small Stars, released January 8, 2021
Doug Davis: vocals, Martin Shenandoah acoustic guitar, Hammond M3 organ
Luke Payne: electric guitar

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Doug Davis Winston Salem, North Carolina

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