There she goes walkin’ down the street singin’ doo-wah-diddy-diddy
Keepin’ to herself for all the world as if she don’t know she’s lookin’ pretty
Hungry young boys snap at her heels as she runs up the stairs
But she don’t give a second look, she don’t really care
Well, she gets off on playing hard to get
The boys can’t come near her, she won’t let
Though they stop dead in their tracks when they see her, like wow!
None of them won’t get their chance ‘cause they don’t know how
To treat her like a lady
Yeah, yeah, yeah, treat her like a lady
My mama told me, Son you better see
that you don’t play rough with the girls
‘Cause if you play tough, you don’t love her enough,
it won’t matter if you buy her pearls
And then she’d say, That’s the only way to give true love a start
Be a gentleman as much as you can, you’ll find a place in her heart
My friends told me, You better watch out
She’ll be all over you, then she’ll throw you out
But I said, When I get through, she won’t wanna
I’m gonna be different ‘cause I’m gonna
Treat her like a lady
Yeah, yeah, yeah, treat her like a lady
I stood in front of her house, playing cat and mouse
on a cold rainy night
I saw some guy go on inside
and then out went the light
I told myself he’s not here to shoot the breeze
with her tonight, that’s true
I shivered in the dark and felt the ache in my heart
Hell, a grown man can cry too
There’s a lesson to be learned from getting burned,
and if you follow it, it helps
Don’t bend so far back till you think you’re gonna crack,
just be yourself
I thought I was cool but I played the fool,
the whole thing didn’t pay
That’s the price for being nice,
you gotta find your own way
To treat her like a lady
Yeah, yeah, yeah, treat her like a lady
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
No connection whatsoever to the songs of the same title by the Temptations or Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose! I wrote this one in December 1985 (amazing how I can remember that) when I was in advanced training during my army service. One of my class's instructors was a female sergeant who took no BS, and I was wondering how she would react if anyone (on the outside, of course) would treat her like a lady, rather than a drill instructor. I, of course, never got the chance, but I did put her, anonymously, into the first verse. The second and third verses are assembled from several of my romantic misadventures during my late teens and early 20s. For fans of Israeli muzika mizrahit, the third verse here is a loose translation and embellishment of the third verse of the late Zohar Argov's "Marlene," which was a huge hit during my basic training. Musically, the song has an uptempo groove similar to the J. Geils Band song "Freeze-Frame." Played on the piano many times but never recorded or performed for an audience of more than one or two.
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