Margot Fonteyn was a great dancer (the wikipedia page) who is credited with saying “The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.” She died in 1991.
The tribute song by Eddie from Ohio moved me from the first performance when I heard it in the mid-2000s and every time since. I added emphasis to phrases that I’ve tried to incorporate into other communication.
Margot Fonteyn you’re a dancing Eleanor to and fro
who would know you ever touched the floor
Margot Fonteyn know for now and evermore
you’re looking great in tights and bows
your palm contains the front ten rows
you had the moves but no one knows
that your legs were touched by the hands of God
but your heart stands on its toes yeah, your heart stands on its toes
Wheels of misfortune a retired nurse down south living on a memory
living hand to husband’s mouth
when most call on a pension and act senile and mean
you pirouette as Juliet and look like you’re eighteen
Chorus
smallest things can cause a change like a bullet to the spine
and who would know that wasn’t planned you act like it’s all fine
should I need a private maid would you please be mine?
roll me through your garden and push me from behind
Chorus
but this ain’t how it happens for queens and cavaliers
you know something we don’t your ending’s not down here
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