A Square In The Social Circle
1945



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Highlights
  • Written for the 1945 Paramount Pictures film The Stork Club starring Betty Hutton, Barry Fitzgerald and Don DeFore.
  • A hat-check girl at the Stork Club in NYC saves the life of a drowning man who turns out to be rich. He decides to repay her by anonymously giving her a bank account, a luxury apartment and a charge account at a department store. When her boyfriend returns from overseas, he thinks she's become a kept woman.
  • Sung by a girl who doesn't fit in elegant surroundings because she is a square in the social circle.
  • Tag line: "Don't can't give Betty anything but love...Barry can't give her anything but millions! They'll give you the time of your life at New York's capital of Glamour, Gaiety, Love, Laughter and Music!"



Recording History
Betty Hutton, Great Ladies of Song, Spotlight On Betty Hutton, Capitol, CDP 0777 7 89942 2 0
Jon Weber, It's Never Quite the Same, Mood Records, MD-1111, 1998
Lyrics
When I was young, I found it grim,
To gurgle in the social swim;
The do's and don't and la-de-da,
To me, is just a lot of blah,

I used my silver spoon at birth
For throwing meat-balls at my nurse;
I always chose to thumb my nose
At smarty-y clothes and party pose,

I've ditched the "rich in sable" set
To join the "kitchen table" set.
But much to my regret
I can't mingle with the social set

I use the wrong fork at the Stork in New York,
My manners ain't fit for a goop.
I'm just a square in the social circle.
Who put that fly in my soup?

I'd rather go out with a lout to a bout
Than sleep in a symphony hall.
I'm just a square in the social circle
Who knocked my gum off the wall?

When the utterly utter flows like butter,
I wanna start pitchin' a curve.
With a silly old blighter on a first nighter,
I feel like a pickled hors d'oeuvre,
No verve!

I never felt gay in a fancy beret
I'll wear a babushka or burst.
I'm just a square in the social circle.
Finger bowls irk me the worst,
They just don't quench my thirst.

Missus Vander Horse will greet me with a fourteen carat shout:
"My dear, you've simply got to come to daughter's coming out."
Her daughter is a Frankenstein, a Dracula in mink
When she comes out each stag will shout:
"Gadzooks, I need a drink!"

I've dined and clubbed,
I've elbowed rubbed, from Yonkers to Cheyenne.
"Foo" to you, bud,
Take your blue blood
And stick it in a fountain pen.

I wanna brush all the plush and the gush,
I'd rather get left than be right.
I'm just a square in the social circle.
Anyone here wanna fight?

None of me fits with the wits at the Ritz
I'd rather relax on a stool.
I'm just a square in the social circle.
Anyone wanna shoot pool?

When a cookie with cabbage gets too savage,
I rassle him three out of four.
I would rather a sailor hop in my trailer
And show me his nautical lore.
Why shure!

Ladies in frills only fill me with chills.
They're soft as a ball of chenille.
I'm just a square in the social circle.
I got a muscle of steel.
Anyone here wanna feel?

I'm as square as a pear in a boutonniere.
Fancy silk won't stay on,
I'm designed for rayon.
But I just don't seem to care.
I'm a square!
A SQUARE IN THE SOCIAL CIRCLE sung by Betty Hutton in The B.G. De Sylva Production The Stork Club, a Paramount Picture film. Famous Music Corp., 1945. Words and Music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (Special Picture Release)