The Minute Waltz

(album: Color Me Barbra - 1966)

I have got a minute, just a little minute,
I have only got a minute, just minute,
I have only got a minute that is all the time
I have to sing this tiny minute waltz
It isn't easy but I'll try it
Than I gotta say goodbye
But first I take a minute
And put in it every note that Chopin wrote
and I shall sing the little minute waltz
And hope that I can sing with no faults
and though it's difficult
I'll give it every gust of air I got within in my body
Hope that my performance will be very shiny
Singing every note will not do wonders for my throat
I probably will end up hoarse
Of course I will have done it
And a will for that I made
That what I want is not the money
but the satisfaction that I get
from winning money on this silly kind of bet
Though this kind of solo wasn't his intention
Chopin isn't here to make an intervention
So with your permission and no intermission
I will sing each note that that composer wrote
as you can hear my trilling isn't very thrilling
but no one can say I wasn't very willing
to attempt a thing that's not been done
and just for fun to sing the minute waltz
As I sing the seconds fly, oh too soon the minute waltzes by
And now I ask you where am I halfway through the tune
and I'm falling far behind
I have less than 30 seconds
less than 30 seconds
less than 30
less than half a minute
I have less than 30 seconds
I have less than half a minute
to complete this little minute waltz
And every note that's its score
While the sands of time I know are pouring
Let me win my bet and I'll run with the money
Down to some drug store whare I will buy a honey
Or a trophy for myself to put upon a shelf to show the world I've won
Oh the second hand is rushing round the dial
And though I'd like to end this torture with a smile
Unless someone knows how to stop the clock
you gonna see me cry before I said goodbye
Eight little measures to complete this song
But I'm afraid my little lungs will burst before to long if
Only I can last the scale
I won't have failed to sing the minute waltz!