SNL Transcripts: Susan St. James: 10/10/81: Single Bars and Single Women

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 Saturday Night Live Transcripts


  Season 7: Episode 2




81b: Susan St. James / The Kinks

Single Bars and Single Women

Written by: Michael O’Donoghue

Single Woman … Christine Ebersole

[A neon sign reads: LONELY’S. Piano music. We pullback to reveal that we are in an almost empty drinkingestablishment, late at night. Behind the bar, abalding bartender cleans glasses with a towel. Wediscover a pretty blonde woman seated at the nearbypiano bar with a drink in front of her, a silentjukebox and the neon sign glowing in the backgroundbehind her. While a young black man at the keyboardaccompanies her, she sings a mournful, country-tingedballad:]

Single Woman: [sings]Single bars and single women
With a single thought in mind
Just to make it till the morning
Looking for what they can find
For a man you won’t remember
For a night you can’t forget
Do you come to this place often?
May I light your cigarette?

Drinkin’ beer and Amaretto
Poppin’ pills and smokin’ dope
Hopin’ for a new beginning
But beginning to lose hope
As you’re waitin’ for the moment
When a glance becomes a stare
Have you seen my new Camaro?
Do you like your sirloin rare?

Find a matchbook in the morning
With a name and number scrawled
When you phone, a woman answers
And you wish you never called
Just another heavy-hitter
Who was out to make a score
What’s that perfume that you’re wearin’?
Haven’t I met you before?

With a twenty in your pocket
And a toothbrush in your purse
Life could get a whole lot better
But it better not get worse
Like when he’s too drunk to make it
Just when you’re too drunk to care
Do you mind if I come join ya?
Love your dress and love your hair
They are friendly when they meet you
They are strangers when they go
May I taste your Vodka Collins?
May I offer you some blow?

As it’s gettin’ near to closing
And the seconds pass like years
Lots of friends to share the laughter
Not a one to share the tears
And you wish they’d change the jukebox
‘Cause the songs, they all sound the same
Would you let me buy you breakfast?
What’s your sign and what’s your name?
Do you dance? Are you a model?
Would you like to see a trick?
Did you read the latest novel?
Did you catch the latest flick?
Do you ski? Are you a jogger?
What’s the matter? Are you gay?
Can I drop you off at my place?
Wanna party? Wanna play?

Single bars and single women
With a single thought in mind
Just to make it till the morning
Looking for what they can find

[Crane to a high angle shot that takes us up to aceiling fan and looks down on the keyboardist, thesinger and the bartender. Applause. The bartenderlooks on sadly as the lonely woman sips her drink andthe keyboardist finishes the song.Fade.]

Submitted Anonymously

SNL Transcripts

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Author: Don Roy King

Don Roy King has directed fourteen seasons of Saturday Night Live. That work has earned him ten Emmys and fourteen nominations. Additionally, he has been nominated for fifteen DGA Awards and won in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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Glenn B. Reday
Glenn B. Reday
3 years ago

This song, this singular and pristine moment in broadcast TV is, for me, the nexus of my Saturday Night Live viewing. For me too, only Christine Ebersole’s version of “Single Bars, Single Women” is the one which has withstood the passage of so many years. Thank you.

Michael Gilstrap
Michael Gilstrap
2 years ago

Christins Ebersol owns this songs. I still remember the night she sang it. It was goosebumps- the good kind. Why is there no video anywhere of her singing? I still have the VHS of her. She’s truly a very talented and classy lady.

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