Day 6, Thursday 13th August, and we’ve got a song you might recognise from adverts for a certain Irish beverage, but given the Buckden Singers’ own treatment. I defy you not to have your toes tapping to this one!

Rhythm of Life

From Sweet Charity by CY Coleman

When I started down the street last Sunday
Feeling mighty low and kind of mean
Suddenly a voice said go forth neighbour
Spread the picture on a wider screen
And the voice said neighbour there’s a million reasons
Why you should be glad in all four seasons
Hit the road neighbour leave your worries and strife
Spread the religion of the rhythm of life

For the rhythm of life is a powerful beat
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet 
Rhythm on the inside rhythm on the street  
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat

To feel the rhythm of life
To feel the powerful beat
To feel the tingle in your fingers
To feel the tingle in your feet

Go, go, go! Go, go, go!  Tell them everything you know! 
Go and spread the gospel in Milwaukee  
Take a walkie talkie to Rocky Ridge  
All the way to Canton then to Scranton  
Even tell it under the Manhattan bridge

You will make a new sensation, have a growing congregation 
Build a glowing operation here below  
Like a pied piper blowing, lead and keep the music flowing
Keep the rhythm go, go, going, go, go, go!

Flip your wings and fly up high  
Flip your wings and fly up high  
Flip your wings and fly up high, Fly, fly, fly up high

You can do it if you try  
You can do it if you try  
You can do it if you try
Try, try, try to fly  

Like a bird up in the sky  
Like a bird up in the sky  
Like a bird up in the sky Fly, fly, fly! 

Doo- bi doo- bi, doo- bi, doo- bi, doo- bi doo- bi, doo-bi doo!  

O, the rhythm of life is a powerful beat  
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet  
Rhythm on the inside rhythm in the street  
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat 

For the rhythm of life is a powerful beat
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet 
Rhythm on the inside rhythm on the street  
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat

To feel the rhythm of life
To feel the powerful beat
To feel the tingle in your fingers
To feel the tingle in your feet

Go, go, go! Go, go, go!  Tell them everything you know! 

To feel the rhythm of life, 
To feel the powerful beat, 
To feel the tingle in your fingers, 
To feel the tingle in your    Life!    Life!   Life!  
Neighbour you’ve got the
Rhythm, Rhythm, Rhythm, Rhythm of life!

Sweet Charity is a poignant but amusing look at the adventures in the ways of love encountered by a naïve young lady – Charity Agnes Valentine – who always gives her heart, and her money, to the wrong man.

She sings, dances, laughs and cries her way through her love affairs and  romances with several heroes.

The lyrics from the original show have been changed on several occasions – possibly to make it more family friendly!

Anne Vetch