Years ago, I used to belong to this fancy gym in NYC - actually I didn't belong, but snuck in every morning just for the bagel bar. Whenever I went, and that could have been anytime from 6:00 -11:00 AM, there was this very skinny and determined woman on the stair master. The bagel bar area faced the glass wall where on the other side was the line of stair masters. I became slightly obsessed with this woman.. Well, one day, she didn't show up. Where was Lucy? Was she okay? I didn't know her name, but she looked like a Lucy. I started writing lyrics on the napkin next to the everything bagel and cantaloupe slice.
Lucy at the gym She's there every time I go, And I don't go that often, so she must live at the gym I stare at her ribs they show through the spandex Her little legs are working, she's going somewhere She's climbing up the stairs And when she reaches the top her dreams will be there Lucy at the gym Lucy on the scale for the third time Through thick and thin, Lucy's at the gym She's staring at the clock and like the 2nd hand she never stops She's Lucy at the gym When she takes a shower, after all the hours Does she have a place to go Is there someone waiting Or is Lucy all alone I'm at the gym and Lucy's not there It's got me kinda worried so I imagine the worst She's made it up to heaven And when she met her maker, he said "come right in" "I'll show you around the gym" "Everyone's beautiful and thin" "And here there's no sin, And your life can begin Lucy at the gym"
Jill Sobule / Robin Eaton
Lucy actually did make it back to the gym the very next day looking like she was ready to make up for lost time. The song is not just about a single Lucy, but could have been about, well...me. In the early 1980s, I had an eating disorder. I actually checked myself into this horrific inpatient clinic in Glendale, California. I have thought recently of writing a play about that time. All I will say is that the head nurse supplied me with cocaine and read me everything the doctor and social worker wrote in my charts. And that's just the beginning. Do you want to hear more?
Sounds like a concept album in the making.
Yes!
Wow to the ending just being the beginning of the story!
so delightfully poignant thank you jilly
Jill, you are such a character. I enjoyed Lucy at the gym. The gym is where we go to build our bodies when we can't think of anything better to build. Keep building those songs! Vic