The Manor is a rockin’
The place is hot tonight
Pool tables are all busy
Red necks looking to start a fight

There’s a young girl who’s expecting
Says this one’ll get what it deserves
As she orders a beer to go with her smoke
Says they’re just to settle her nerves

Saturday night at the Manor
The band is in a groove
Captain Jack leads the group
There’s excitement with every move
Amplifiers pounding loudly
Everyone seems to approve

Grandpa’s on the keyboards
Uncle Elmer bangs on the drums
Suzy Q belts out Magic Man
The crowd eagerly succumbs

The football team is here
I think the class of seventy-four
They start bopping to The Time Warp
Taking up the whole dance floor
Rhythm has escaped them
But I don’t think they care anymore

Saturday night at the Manor
The band is in a groove
Captain Jack leads the group
There’s excitement with every move
Amplifiers pounding loudly
Everyone seems to approve

Principal Vanderhyde seems all too happy
Whacking his balls around the table
Trying hard to find the pockets
I really don’t think he’s able

The prom king and queen make an entrance
I’m guessing the class of seventy-three
So amazed they’re still together
Oh… you never know who you’ll see
…. Saturday night at the Manor

Where everyone gets what they came for
…. And nothing surprises me

The Manor is a local bar well known in the area I use to live for having decent cover bands and a variety of live music. Every once in a while, I’d take a trip over to have a beer or two and check out the entertainment de la journée. It’s a fairly informal place with several pool tables, a few TV screens, and generally attracts the same crowd; not exactly an ideal place to have a first date. Well… guess what I did; took someone there on my first date. In this case however, it was her that suggested it so I was partially off the hook. I was fairly new to the area at the time and asked if she could suggest a place that had live music. On most nights, this wouldn’t have been too bad a choice, but on this particular night it was bit of a gong show. It was busy, extremely loud, the music was mostly drowned out by the amplifiers. We actually laughed when we entered and my date asked if I’d like to leave, but this was way too good an opportunity to people watch and enjoy the entertainment. My response to her was “are you kidding, there’s a song in here somewhere”.

The band looked like it was made up of three, maybe even four generations from the same family. There was an attractive young blond who sang a decent rendition of CCR’s Suzie Q and Heart’s Magic Man, but it got a little scratchy from there. The drummer was a heavier lad with jean suspenders and way too much enthusiasm. There were a couple other lead singers, which I assumed were part of the second generation, who lacked vocal skills but did a pretty good job of keeping the audience in a party mood. While the keyboard player, I’m assuming from either the third or fourth generation, used his keyboard to both create sound and hold himself up; there were times I thought he had actually nodded off. The crowd included a pregnant young lady who excused herself several times to go have a cigarette (at least she put her beer down), and a bunch of older ex-jocks who were still wearing their football jackets from high-school. I thought it was nice they all still hung out together, but it was definitely time to hang up the outerwear. My guess is they probably get together once in a while and the jackets are reserved for these types of special occasions; at least that’s what I told myself at the time. The best part of the night was when the band did a rendition of The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Everyone leaped up like it was nineteen seventy-five all over again and started bouncing on the dance floor. I think it was the first time I could have joined in the dance myself and actually looked good.

All in all it was a pretty decent night and everyone seemed to have fun. I even got some song lyrics out of the deal. I suppose it just goes to show, as long as you enjoy the company you’re with, make the best of your surroundings, and no one gets hurt; you can have a good time just about anywhere. It even made me want to get out my old football jacket.