Be careful who you meet
Could be a damsel in distress
In a classic black dress
Boy she’s surely trouble
She’s living in a bubble
Come on pour me a double
I was going to do my best
I was walking late at night
I was feeling all right
She gave me her address
And a sweet warm caress
I couldn’t escape her charm
She was going to do me harm
I had to pull the alarm
I was trying to do my best
SOLO
I completely lost control
Had to find a loop hole
The shivers that she gave
From walking on my grave
I was hooked on that black dress
And when she was dress less
She put me in a fat mess
I really did my best
Hooked on that black dress
Oh when she was dress less
She put me in a fat mess
I really must confess
25-January-2020
That Black Dress
My little baby sister is not my baby sister no more, she's going to turn seventeen.
I bought a little present for her at a grown up women's store, at the local shopping mall.
She's going to wear that black dress. She's going to leave her address.
She's going to make some bad press. Parental stress.
I wandered to my usual stool at the bar late last night, and saw a sexy new dress.
It made me think of baby sister celebrating birthday day, and even part of the night.
Think I'll follow that black dress. The girl I saw was dressed best.
I think I'll get her address or a warm caress.
I followed her around the town until we ended up at my place, oh yeah, until 3 a.m..
I tried to keep my baby sister out of trouble most of the night, and now I'm feeling the pain.
All because of that black dress. It got me in a fat mess.
I've surely come to detest that cursed black dress.
12/20/83
That Black Dress
My baby sister is not my baby sister no more
She's turning seventeen, boy oh boy
She's going to wear that black dress
She's going to leave her address
She's going to make some bad press
Parental stress
My little neighbor is not my little neighbor no more
She's walking out of the house, boy oh boy
Think I'll follow that black dress
The girl I saw was dressed best
I think I'll get her address
Or a warm caress
My reputation is not my reputation no more
It's lying in the street, boy oh boy
All because of that black dress
It got me in a fat mess
I've surely come to detest
That cursed black dress
12/20/83
That Black Dress
This song was inspired mostly by Bobby’s and my relationship with Dawn Bierling, our young teenage neighbor girl who hung out with us a lot during the mid 1980’s, though a few thoughts of Shelley Timmer also enter in because she really was Bobby's little sister. The original lyrics tell the story of the author's little sister turning seventeen. He gives her a sexy black dress for her birthday, now that she's a woman, and ends up regretting it because he has to follow her around all night defending her from young men. It's entirely fictional in that I have no baby sister but it accurately conveys some of the embarrassment and awkwardness we experienced in putting up with a lot of Dawn's antics of a flirtatious nature from 1983 on into 1985 and beyond. She was pretty much a spoiled brat who didn't really know how to handle her development (at a very early age) into a shapely woman and quite often didn't recognize the effect she had on young men.
We had a fairly humorous recording experience with this song one summer night with Dawn singing lead. Because virtually all of our lyrics are written from a male perspective, every time Dawn sang one of our songs the words weren't quite right. In the spontaneity of the moment she belted out the first line "my little baby sister is not my baby sister no more - she's my brother!". She hacked most of the lines pretty badly that night, making me realize that the hastily written lyrics didn't fit the more developed rhythm and tune we were using. I rewrote them two more times until they worked.
First Version: The author buys his little sister a birthday present. He recognizes she's a woman now and will cause her parents (and big brother) a few sleepless nights. This was a direct tie in to Dawn. On more than one occasion Mrs. Bierling called me looking for her daughter. During 1983 and 1984 she was pretty much always at our house but in the years to follow she was getting herself into more serious trouble. The wise big brother goes to his usual bar. A woman wanders in wearing a black dress. It turns out he spends the entire night trying to keep his baby sister out of trouble. In her new dress she apparently looks old enough to get into some of the less desirable places her big brother haunts and now he's paying for it. This was vintage Dawn. She looked much older than her age and quite frequently flirted with men many years her senior and was allowed to enter a few establishments she shouldn't have been in.
The second version is more or less a condensed version of the first with a more direct references Dawn as my little neighbor.
The third (last?) version, written here, is a year 2020 re-make. I’m not sure it’s better than any of the others in content but at least one could sing it.
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