Show Business

I'm freelancing at an agency again. Yesterday I was in my ACD's office and his itunes was running. Harry Connick Jr. was singing a slow version of "There's No Business Like Show Business". It was so slow I could focus on the lyrics:


The butcher, the baker, the grocer, the clerk
Are secretly unhappy men because
The butcher, the baker, the grocer, the clerk
Get paid for what they do but no applause.
They'd gladly bid their dreary jobs goodbye for anything theatrical and why?

There's no business like show business like no business I know
Everything about it is appealing, everything that traffic will allow
Nowhere could you get that happy feeling when you are stealing that extra bow

There's no people like show people, they smile when they are low
Even with a turkey that you know will fold, you may be stranded out in the cold
Still you wouldn't change it for a sack of gold, let's go on with the show

There's no business like show business and I tell you it's so
Traveling through the country is so thrilling, standing out in front on opening nights
Smiling as you watch the theater filling, and there's your billing out there in lights

There's no people like show people, they smile when they are low
Angels come from everywhere with lots of jack, and when you lose it, there's no attack
Where could you get money that you don't give back? Let's go on with the show

There's no business like show business like no business I know
You get word before the show has started that your favorite uncle died at dawn
Top of that, your pa and ma have parted, you're broken-hearted, but you go on

There's no people like show people, they smile when they are low
Yesterday they told you you would not go far, that night you open and there you are
Next day on your dressing room they've hung a star, let's go on with the show


Something stirred inside me. I didn't care about pharmaceutical websites. I didn't care about account reviews. I didn't even care about my day rate. I just wanted to put on a great show. I couldn't wait to get out and bark for "The World" that night.

Of course it was 17 degrees outside and the show was cancelled but it's still a nice story.