[Verse 1: Rebetiko male lead, rough and low over a heavy kick and a bouzouki riff] There's a taverna by the harbor where the tile is cracked and gray And a rule in there that's older than the boats out in the bay When a man gets up to dance alone, the floor belongs to him Nobody joins, nobody films, nobody steps in off the rim Just his friends down on one knee around the edges, clappin' slow And the bouzouki follows him wherever he decides to go Aman, I've danced this floor for twenty years on Friday night Every grief I ever carried, I have stamped it out of sight Opa, nobody says it, nobody smashes nothin' here That's for tourists and for weddings, this is quieter than fear [Verse 2: Rebetiko male lead, darker, the bouzouki tightening, heavy kick] Tonight a man in a linen suit comes in from off the quay And the owner's wringin' out his apron, says "he bought the place today" Then I stand, and I lift my arms, and the bouzouki finds my feet And the new man steps onto my floor and starts clappin' to the beat He's off the beat and smilin', and he's filmin' with his phone And he says "come on, my friend, let's dance, you shouldn't dance alone" And the whole room stops breathin', every glass is halfway up And old Manolis at the bar sets down his coffee cup [Hook: Rebetiko male lead, full band] You can buy the walls and windows, you can buy the wine and door You can buy the sign and cellar, but you'll never buy the floor 'Cause the deed don't cover dancin', no, the paper don't go deep Step back slow, my friend, the floor's taken, and it's taken for keeps [Bridge: Rebetiko male lead, low and slow, the bouzouki holding back] Aman, aman, I don't stop, I don't look at him, I wheel Round him once and round him twice, like a hawk above a field Every step a little closer, never touchin', never quick And the bouzouki's breathin' with me, and the room's as quiet as a brick [Verse 3: Rebetiko male lead, rubato, the band lets go of the beat and follows his body, every hit landing when his heel lands] Then I drop down on one knee, and I slap the tile once, hard An inch from his shiny shoe, like a gunshot in the yard Then I stand back up and turn my back and dance on like he's air And he stands there with his phone up, and his smile is not there And the friends around the edges keep on clappin', slow and low And he looks at all the faces, and the faces tell him no So he steps back off the tile, slow, one shoe and then the other And he sits down in the corner like a schoolboy with his mother And I finish what I started, every step I came here for And tomorrow it's his building, but tonight it's still my floor [Final Hook: Rebetiko male lead, full band] You can buy the walls and windows, you can buy the wine and door You can buy the sign and cellar, but you'll never buy the floor 'Cause the deed don't cover dancin', no, the paper don't go deep Step back slow, my friend, the floor's taken, and it's taken for keeps [End]
