You Gotta Have a Gimmick

You can pull all the stops out

Till they call the cops out

Grind your behind till you're banned

But you gotta get a gimmick

If you want to get a hand

You can sacrifice your sacro

Working in the back row

Bump in a dump till you're dead

Kid, you've gotta get a gimmick

If you want to get ahead

You can uh, you can uh

You can uh, uh, uh—

That's how burlesque was born

So I uh, and I uh

And I uh, uh, uh—

But I do it with a horn

Once I was a schlepper

Now I'm Miss Mazeppa

With my Revolution in Dance

You gotta have a gimmick

If you want to have a chance

She can uh, she can uh

She can uh, uh, uh—

They'll never make her rich

Me, I uh, and I uh

And I uh, uh, uh—

But I do it with a switch!

I'm electrifying

And I'm not even trying

I never had to sweat to get paid

'Cause if you got a gimmick

Gypsy girl, you've got it made!

All them uh and them uh

And them uh, uh, uh—

Ain't gonna spell success

Me, I uh, and I uh

And I uh, uh, uh—

But I do it with finesse!

Dressy Tessie Tura

Is so much more demure-a

Than all them other ladies because

You gotta get a gimmick

If you wanna get applause!

Do something special

Anything special

Do something special

Anything special

You're more than just a mimic

When you got a gimmick

Take a look how different we are

If you wanna make it

Twinkle while you shake it

If you wanna grind it

Wait till you've refined it

If you wanna bump it

Bump it with a trumpet

So get yourself a gimmick

And you, too

Can be a star!