I've seen the lights of gay Broadway, or is it Belfast?

A widely misunderstood fact about the United Kingdom (especially overseas) is that it is not just another name for Great Britain. The latter is the island that includes England, Scotland and Wales; add on Northern Ireland and you get the UK. Tiny as this conglomerate is, each bit of it has separate legislature - and today, despite the fact that in England and Wales the law came into force on 13 March 2014, and in Scotland in December 2014, equal marriage was only legally recognised in Northern Ireland TODAY! About bloody time, too.

Partly by way of celebration, partly because it would have been Miss Gwen Verdon's 95th birthday today, but mainly because we all need a bit of "va-va-voom" to get ourselves in the right frame of mind to get up and out and into work - on this Tacky Music Monday, here's the divine Miss V in a supporting role to our eternal Patron Saint Miss Mitzi Gaynor!

Mitzi Gaynor and Gwen Verdon - Beale Street Blues [from The I Don't Care Girl, 1953]

I've seen the lights of gay Broadway
Old Market Street down by the Frisco Bay
I've strolled the Prado, I've gambled on the Bourse;
The seven wonders of the world I've seen
And many are the places I have been
Take my advice, folks, and see Beale Street first!

You'll see pretty browns in beautiful gowns
You'll see tailor-mades and hand-me-downs
You'll meet honest men, and pick-pockets skilled
You'll find that business never ceases 'til somebody gets killed!

If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk
Married men would have to take their beds and walk
Except one or two who never drink booze
And the blind man on the corner singing "Beale Street Blues!"

I'd rather be there than any place I know
I'd rather be there than any place I know
It's gonna take a sergeant for to make me go!

I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by
Yes, I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by
Because the river's wet, and Beale Street's done gone dry!

Faboo!

Have a good week, dear reader.