The Fall of the Roxy Usher

This song received an Honorable Mention certificate and Top 500 prize from the 11th Annual Billboard Magazine Songwriting Contest, July 16, 2003.

Listen to .mp3 sample of The Fall of the Roxy Usher.

Sung by Mark S. Meritt. 2007, 2002 Mark S. Meritt

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Lyrics

Long ago
A picture show
Was played inside a palace
Where dreams leapt off the screen into the air
Film premieres
Gold chandeliers
An indoor borealis
But the best of all
The Taj Mahal
Was the Roxy Herald Square

The tallest screen
Two mezzanines
The height of show biz style
The lobby filled with famous autographs
Carvings jade
And drapes brocade
Gold carpet down the aisle
Yet with all inside
The theatre’s pride
Was it’s famous usher staff

From the cap down to the loafers
Pants of purple neatly pressed
They were guides and they were gofers
Their command was your request
They were always on the ball
Drama, comedy or gusher
Whatever the cue
No matter, you knew
You could call on a Roxy usher

They once employed
A Bowery boy
Who earned his violet jacket
And though his pay was low he felt a king
With the pants
He had his chance
To dodge some no-good racket
‘Stead of staying down
He’d head uptown
Live the high life, score and swing

Then one day
Near aisle K
Accomplishing his duty
Escorting tardy people to their chairs
In the stream
Of his flashlight beam
He spied a stunning beauty
Her sight distracting
He slipped, impacting
The floor caught unawares

He tried to rise discretely
Hoping none had seen his dive
But the beauty smiled sweetly
And the boss had just arrived
And he said:
“When you’re on the job, don’t fall
And when someone talks you hush her”
His job wasn’t lost
But it’s clear the boss
Was appalled with the Roxy usher

Later on
When all had gone
The usher left the theater
And who should he bump into but the doll
First he smiled
Then, so beguiled
Confessed he hoped to meet her
Now no more inside
Her turn to guide
She took him out to have a ball

First a bar
And then to Harlem
Jazz in smoky nightclubs
They danced the Lindy till their legs were sore
Through the night
She held him tight
He knew he’d joined the right club
Once he had the swing
The only thing
That was left now was to score

The decor in her apartment
Floors of white and walls of cream
She said, “You know I love your garments,
But they just don’t match my scheme”
With his clothes strewn down the hall
Then he knew he needn’t rush her
Right from the first kiss
The movie-mad miss
Was enthralled with the Roxy usher

For some time
They’d hit the limelight
Cruise till they were seasick
He finally lived his high-class, swinging dream
One fine day
She led the way
Into a Bijou B-flick
In the darkened wings
They’d better things
To attend to than the screen

As they left
He saw, bereft,
His boss, who promptly fired him
For giving lesser rivals his support
So he whirled
Toward the girl
But she no more admired him
For without the job
He was just some slob
There and then she left him short

No more uniform to dress in
And no uptown fiancee
Though he lost, he learned a lesson
Forsake your colors, they’ll fade away
So a lump of lead is all
That was found by this goldrusher
Learn from his defeat
And you will not repeat
The fall of the Roxy usher

© 2007, 1997 Mark S. Meritt