Another of Dory's poetic lyrics was sung by Judy Garland on the soundtrack for an odd 1960 movie called Pepe, starring the Mexican comedian Cantinflas.
The song, called "The Faraway Part of Town," was nominated for an Oscar.
Come Saturday morning, I'm goin' away with my friend. We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day. Just I and my friend, We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles And then we'll move on, But we will remember Long after Saturday's gone.
You know what the trouble is? Trouble is that probably all the good things in life take place in no more than a minute.
I mean, all added up, I betcha at the end of seventy years--should you live so long!--you can sit down, you can figure the whole thing out:
You spent nineteen years sleepin'. You spent five years goin' to the bathroom. You spent thirty-five years doin' some kinda work you absolutely HATED. Spent seven thousand eight hundred and fifty-three minutes blinkin' your eyes and added to that, you got that one minute of good things.
Then one day you wonder whether your minute's up.
And then we'll move on But we will remember Long after Saturday's gone.
THEME FROM "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" PART I: ANNE LEAVES LAWRENCEVILLE FOR NEW YORK (OPENING CREDITS VERSION):
Gotta get off Gonna get Have to get off all alone
Gotta find out Gonna Find Need to find life on my own
When will I know Where will I How will I know what I'll be
If I don't go If I can't If I don't go where I'm free
Somewhere ahead Waits a hope Waits a heart That will know how I yearn, know how I yearn Yearn for a dream For a face with a smile And a look of concern What will I learn?
Tell me when will I know? What will I see? When will I return?
There was a proto feminist side to Dory too Did Jesus Have a Baby Sister
Did jesus have a baby sister? Was she bitter? Was she sweet? Did she wind up in a convent? Did she end up on the street? On the run? On the stage? Did she dance? Did he have a sister? A little baby sister? Did jesus have a sister? Did they give her a chance?
Did he have a baby sister? Could she speak out By and large? Or was she told by mother mary Ask your brother he's in charge He's the chief He's the whipped cream On the cake Did he have a sister? A little baby sister? Did jesus have a sister? Did they give her a break?
Her brother's Birth announcement Was pretty big Pretty big I guess While she got precious Little notice In the local press Her mother was the virgin When she carried him Carried him Therein If the little girl came later Then Was she conceived in sin? And in sorrow? And in suffering? And in shame? Did jesus have a sister? What was her name?
Did she long to be the saviour Saving everyone She met? And in private to her mirror Did she whisper Saviourette? Saviourwoman? Saviourperson? Save your breath! Did he have a sister? A little baby sister? Did jesus have a sister? Was she there at his death?
And did she cry for mary's comfort As she watched him On the cross? And was mary too despairing Ask your brother He's the boss He's the chief He's the man He's the show Did he have a sister? A little baby sister? Did jesus have a sister? Doesn't anyone know?
And this one was one of the best about the Hollywood success imperative Mary C Brown and the Hollywood Sign you know the hollywood sign that stands in the hollywood hills i don't think the christ of the andes ever blessed so many ills the hollywood sign seems to smile like it's constantly saying "cheese" i doubt if the statue of liberty ever welcomed more refugees
give me your poor your tired your pimps you carhops your cowboys your midgets your chimps give me your freaks your whores your harlots your flunkies your junkies give me your starlets
mary cecilia brown rode to town on a malibu bus she climbed to the top of the hollywood sign and with the smallest possible fuss she jumped off the letter "h" 'cause she did not become a star she died in less than a minute and a half she looked a bit like hedy lamarr
sometimes i have this dream when the time comes for me to go i will climb that hill and i'll hang myself from the second or third letter "o"
when mary cecilia jumped she finally made the grade her name was in the obituary column of both the daily trades
i hope the hollywood sign cries for the town it touches the lady of lourdes in her grotto saw fewer cripples and crutches
give me your poor your maladjusted your sick and your beat and your sad and your busted give me your has-beens give me your twisted your loners your losers give me your black-listed
you know the hollywood sign the witness to our confusion a symbol of dreams turns out to be a sign of disillusion.
i tell you how i hate you in the voice my father used you answer with your mother's worn cliches and in another life your father hears his wife and i see his fury blazing in your gaze
an echo hears an echo and my mother's fist is raised the hand i clench at you shows her distrust the way one behaves is determined in the graves of all the great grandparents gone to dust our fathers fight through us as they fought their father's war and the same old scene's repeated as before and before and before and before and before and when i tell you how i hate you before the birth of jesus before the death of caesar before siddhartha before ulysses before the trojan war i tell you how i hate you and a long decaying anger comes alive inside a castle and behind an ancient door the empress of china tells her lover how she hates him she tells him once more and once more and once more and once more...
I think the smart feminism was what what attracted my cousin Arlene to Dory as a singer-songwriter.
And her story had a courageous been-though-the-wars aspect to it then: Her Hollywood career as a lyricist came crashing down when Andre left her. She had a breakdown, she was institutionalized and given electroshock therapy.
She came out of it alive and began writing lyrics and music together, and there was a sense that her Hollywood years had been in the shadow of a man but in her singer-songwriter years she was coming into her own as a person, not defined by a famous husband. And she had earned the right to say whatever she damned wanted to.
Her song "Don't Put Him Down" was the song of a liberated woman who could have compassion for how hard a man had to work to be a man--including how hard it was getting a hard-on to please a woman. It was part compassion and partly making fun of men. I wish I had a link to her recording because it goes into a vaudeville riff in the middle and it's very funny.
oh babe he loves you but he just can't make it with you and he just can't tell you it's true how can he pass the test when he just can't hardly move himself let alone prove himself the best
oh babe he wants you but he just can't get it on as you planned and i guess a girl just can't understand how much a guy goes through all she has to do is let herself she doesn't have to get herself up on cue like a performing seal in a zoo
how was last night's performance babe? was it better than the night before? are the old credentials any good any good any good any more or is the act beginning to bore you? he can sing! he can dance! he can juggle! he a regular one-man band his costume's a little tattered his label says made in japan but he beats his battered drum and he rattles his empty can and he somehow gets his flag to fly looka him looka him he's a man!
oh babe inside him it's like there's a little kid in a jail crying denying he's fragile and frail hey looka him he's a male but it's the wail of the weary minstrel it's the dance of the desperate clown singing don't put don't put me down if i fail please babe don't put me down if i fail
PJ I well remember that song. Dang it she wrote so many good ones. I remember when she died I was pleased to learn she had found a very happy 20+ relationship w Joby Baker originally from Montreal.