You can't stop the beat!

Life has been so normal these days that I am too busy to post on this blog. That's a good thing. Every day doesn't have to be about cancer.

I was roaming on Facebook when I saw someone's link to a "making of" video of Hairspray (the movie, not the who). This is my second favorite musical of all time. (The first is The King and I, which I fell in love with when I was maybe six years old. My parents had seen the original Broadway production with Gertrude Lawrence and we played the album all the time. On a family trip to New York when I was 17, we had the good luck to see Yul Brynner in a Broadway revival with Constance Towers.)

Back to Hairspray: It premiered in Seattle but I was too stupid to spend money to see it. The show moved to Broadway. A year or so later I was planning to visit my sister back east on a date when they had tickets for  Hairspray, so she picked up an extra one for me. I sat in the third or fourth row from the front, all the way to house right, and I was in love. I could see Harvey Fierstein adjust his costume in the wings. I could admire the hand-painted shoes up close. And of course the music was tremendous! I bought the CD at intermission. Afterwards we had dinner at a nearby deli and the female lead, "Tracy Turnblad," came in with her family. I asked for her autograph but of course the program is long gone. We played the CD on the drive home and sang, and sang...

Hairspray the movie has a different cast (John Travolta as Edna Turnblad) and a different ending (Little Inez wins the dance competition instead of Tracy Turnblad), but it's still fun to sing along.

You can't stop the beat!

TRACY
You can't stop an avalanche 
As it races down the hill 
You can try to stop the seasons, girl
But ya know you never will 
And you can try to stop my dancin' feet
But I just cannot stand still 
Cause the world keeps spinnin'
'Round and 'round 
And my heart's keeping time 
To the speed of sound 
I was lost til I heard the drums 
Then i found my way

TRACY & LINK
'Cause you can't stop the beat

Ever since this old world began 
A woman found out if she shook it
She could shake up a man 
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it 
The best that I can today

'Cause you can't stop 
The motion of the ocean 
Or the sun in the sky 
You can wonder if you wanna 
But I never ask why
And if you try to hold me down 
I'm gonna spit in your eye and say 
That you can't stop the beat!

PENNY
You can't stop a river 
As it rushes to the sea

SEAWEED
You can try and stop the hands of time
But ya know it just can't be

PENNY 
And if they try to stop us, Seaweed,
I'll call the N Double A C P


'Cause the world keeps spinning 
'Round and 'round
And my heart's keeping time 
To the speed of sound 
I was lost til I heard the drums 
Then I found my way

PENNY & SEAWEED
'Cause you can't stop the beat

PENNY & SEAWEED
Ever since we first saw the light
A man and woman liked to shake it
On a Saturday night 
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it 
With all of my might today

'Cause you can't stop 
The motion of the ocean 
Or the rain from above 
You can try to stop the paradise
We're dreamin' of
But you cannot stop the rhythm 
Of two hearts in love to stay 
'Cause you cant stop the beat!

EDNA
You can't stop my happiness 
'Cause I like the way I am 
And you just can't stop my knife and fork 
When i see a Christmas ham 
So if you don't like the way I look 
Well, I |ust don't give a damn!

EDNA & ENSEMBLE
'Cause the world keeps spinning
'Round and 'round 
And my heart's keeping time 
To the speed of sound 
I was lost til I heard the drums 
Then I found my way

EDNA & COMPANY
'Cause you can't stop the beat

Ever since this old world began 
A woman found out if she shook it
She could shake up a man 
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it 
The best that I can today

'Cause you can't stop
The motion of the ocean
Or the sun in the sky
You can wonder if you wanna
But I never ask why
And if you try to hold me down 
I'm gonna spit in your eye and say 
That you can't stop the beat!


MAYBELL
Oh oh oh
You can't stop today
As it comes speeding down the track
Child, yesterday is history
And it's never coming back

MAYBELL & ENSEMBLE
'Cause tomorrow is a brand new day

MAYBELL
And it don't know white from black

ENSEMBLE
Yeah!

MAYBELL & ENSEMBLE 
'Cause the world keeps spinning
'Round and 'round 
And my heart's keeping time 
To the speed of sound 
I was lost til I heard the drums 
Then I found my way 
'Cause you cant stop the beat

ALL
Ever since we first saw the light 
A man and woman liked to shake it
On a Saturday night 
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it 
With all of my might today
'Cause you can't stop 
The motion of the ocean 
Or the rain from above 
They can try to stop ths paradise
We're dreaming of 
But you cannot stop the rhythm
Of two hearts in love to stay 
You can't stop the beat!

Aah, aah, aah 
Aah, aah, aah 
Aah, aah, aah

ALL
Come on you Van Tussles
Come and shake your fanny muscles

AMBER AND MRS.VAN TUSSLE
But we can't

All
Yes you can

AMBER AND MRS.VAN TUSSLE
But we can't

ALL 
Yes you can

AMBER AND MRS.VAN TUSSLE
Yes we can!

You can't stop the beat
Ever since we first saw the sun
It seems Van Tussle girls are always trying to
Please someone
But now we're gonna shake and shimmy
And just have some fun today

ALL
And you can't stop 
The motion of the ocean 
Or the rain from above
You can try to stop the paradise
We're dreaming of 
But you cannot stop the rhythm
Of two hearts in love to stay 
'Cause you can't stop the beat
You can't stop the beat!! 
You can't stop the beat!!
You can't stop the beat!! 
You can't stop the beat!!