John Kander
Coffee Shop Nights
[CIOFFI, spoken]
Detectives have no opening night, Miss Harris. We make our entrance when the curtain has fallen on someone else's life

[NIKI, spoken]
It isn't wrong to be married to one's work, is it?

[CIOFFI, spoken]
No. Not at all. But sometimes, it's no honeymoon

(sung)
I love my job
I really do
And if I say so myself
I'm good at it, too
I catch the bad guys
...Well, most of the time
So it's a good life
A perfectly good life
Not exactly sublime

When I've finished my work
And I crawl into bed
I reflect as I turn out thе lights
That the day that's to come
And the week that's ahеad
Will be lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights
Lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights
[NIKI, spoken]
It's reassuring to have such a dependable schedule. Like matinees every Wednesday!

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Or brisket and broad beans each Thursday-

[NIKI, spoken]
-with your friends!

[CIOFFI, spoken]
With uh...yeah, well, I like my pals

(sung)
The guys on the force
They're not very social
They're all married, of course
Sometimes we go bowling
Or have a few beers
So it's a fine life
A perfectly fine life
I'd give it...two cheers

But sometimes, I think
At the end of the day
When I've read the last burglar his rights
That the life that I lead
Is a little bit gray
With its lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights
Lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights
[NIKI, spoken]
But your acting roles, don't they make for a change?

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Oh, Miss Harris, each year from May twenty-third to the twelfth of June, when I turn my life over to the Swallow Street Players, that's more than a vacation for me! It's an overture of hope, the curtain rising on the greatest joy of my life! But the rest of the year...

(sung)
The life that I lead
That's a little bit gray
There are plenty of low days
And not many heights
Mostly lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights
Lunch counter mornings
And coffee shop nights

(spoken)
I don't mean to seem forward, but might I walk you home?

[NIKI, spoken]
Oh, I'd be delighted! But you said we're not allowed to leave

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Damn!