Week Thirteen: Obscure 80s - Kon Kan - "I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden)" - Move to Move

I realize that this tune also kind of skirts the realm of obscure, but again, most people do not recognize it by title or band - so consider it another re-introduction...

This is probably one of my absolute favorite retro tunes to dance to, and I do not think I have ever attended an 80s night when this little gem was not played. I cannot pinpoint the first time I heard this song, but this was yet another tune that many of the local retro clubs used on the air to market their 80s nights on the radio advertisements.

I do know that the first time I ever got to dance to it was the first time I went to Retrocadia at Arcadia, but I also remember that my mother purchased me the Kon Kan cassette because she really liked this song too. However, her favorite track on the album ended up being “Puss 'N Boots/These Boots (Are Made For Walking)”, which is not a typical “mom” song, but I found out that she was actually a huge fan of Nancy Sinatra's original version and was thrilled that it was incorporated into Kon Kan's song.  Here's a picture of my lovely mother, a few years after the time that Nancy hit it big, looking even more sultry than Ms. Sinatra, in my humble opinion.  Doesn't she also look like she would have been a super rad go-go dancer back in the day?



Where my father and grandmother instilled a love for music in me, it was my mother who absolutely instilled a love for dance in me.  From a very young age, she had me enrolled in tap, ballet, and jazz.  She also danced around the house all the time.  There's no doubt in my mind that if my mother could go out dancing every weekend, she would accept the offer in a nanosecond.

This song/video is such a rarity – a telephone booth, a ringing telephone, gym teacher whistles, an accordion, a keyboard carried by a guitar strap, a disco ball, a 70s style Guido, and a rocking horse – it doesn't get much better than that, folks! I so miss the 80s, like for sure...

There once was a time and there once was a way
We had something going and to my dismay
Attention to me seemed to drift though I don't know where

And when we're alone seems there's nothing to say
I bring up a topic and you push it away
You say that you do but I think it's just you don't care
Why do I feel you're using me

Are we an item or are we just two
I need some commitments all I ask of you
Your lifestyle can change
Don't be 'fraid what you think's in store

I know what's on your mind you've got lots to lose
Your shallow acquaintances what's there to choose
You won't get too deep even though I'm worth so much more

So think about it carefully

Smile for a while and let's be jolly
Love shouldn't be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can

Do you want to hustle?
Do you want to salsa?

Do you want to hustle?
Do you want to salsa?

If that's how you want it; that's how it'll be
There's no use in trying or making you see
That love don't come easy you don't know what it's about

To get things together won't take any pain
Don't need to see/hear from you ever again
From this day on listen but no more
Please count me out, and you know what I'm talkin' about

Smile for a while and let's be jolly
Love shouldn't be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can

I know now's the time that I went to find something new
You know it's your crime that I'm out to find someone too