TAXI DANCING
(words and music by Rick Springfield) 
(DUET WITH RANDY CRAWFORD)

I think that it's high time we had a talk
I think that we're making a big mistake
I've been feeling lately the magic is gone
Are we just together for convenience sake
Baby

"Feeling"
I don't believe it
"Tied down"
I don't think that's true
"Need to"
It'll just pass if we allow it to
"Break free"
It's just a stage we're going through
"They say clean cuts"
I think you're just restless for something new
"Heal much faster"

Baby, feeling like we pay our dime
And all we get in return
Is a piece of each other's time

Are we just taxi dancing
Lost somewhere in a slow dance for two
And the band that was playing
Has finally stopped playing our favorite song

Are we just taxi dancing
You're paying for me and I'm paying for you
And are we holding on to a feeling with desperation

Oh, don't know if you're right
Don't know if you're wrong
Seems to me we haven't danced for long

Don't make it hard
"I won't"
Don't make it easy
"Hold you"
We'll just walk away
"If you"
At the end of the song
"Must go"

Baby, put one last nickel in the jukebox
Give that love we once felt
Just one final spin around

'Cause we're just taxi dancing
Lost somewhere in a slow dance for two
And the band that was playing
Has finally stopped playing our favorite song
And we're just dancing

And the band that was playing
Has finally stopped playing our favorite song
Are we just taxi dancing
You're paying for me and I'm paying for you
And are we holding on to each other in desperation

Taxi dancing

(total playing time: 3:46)

Song Facts:

Rick performed this song live during the 1984 tour, singing along with a video tape of Randy Crawford.

He also performed this in Kansas City, KS on 2/25/00 with a member of the audience who requested the song and came on stage and performed it with him.

It appears on the following releases:
Hard to Hold (soundtrack), Best 21, Best of Rick Springfield, The Best of Rick Springfield (Japan), Legendary and the demo appears on Working Class Dog expanded edition

 According to US

Ok, am I the only one who duets with Rick on this one? (I somehow think I'm NOT in the minority.) I'm limited to singing in my car though, when I'm alone...(less humiliation that way).

This is another example of how awesome Rick is when it comes to songwriting. This whole song sounds like a couple who have been together for a while, have grown somewhat comfortable in their relationship and yet are not sure if this is where they want to stay or if they should separate. It comes out abundantly clear when you are reading the lyrics - more so than when hearing the song. 

When Rick & Randy are singing over each other - it is so like how men & women communicate. We are saying one thing, but mean another - and do not hear what the other person is really saying. Sometimes we gotta "read between the lines". This song means much more to me now that I'm an adult and in a long term relationship. I think a lot of meaning was lost on the younger fan.

When I first got this album (yes, it was still albums way back then) I remember looking over the song lyrics before listening to it. I' m thinking - wow, a duet...with a guy? Admit it gals, who here had heard of Randy Crawford before Taxi Dancing? Then when the song starts up, and she's female - I felt a whole lot better! It wasn't until I saw Rick live that year that I even knew what she looked like! I was hoping he was gonna do this song (I soo love the ballads) and was wondering if she would come out and sing, or if they would have a back-up singer do her part or what - so it was quite amusing to have her pop up on the video screen and have them sing it together that way. 

I'm glad most of the song made it into the movie, and it did fit the storyline well. It probably would've been cuter if Patti Hansen was singing with Rick...but maybe her singing voice is like mine! (could be why her character just wrote songs with Rick, eh?) My initial reaction when I first saw this scene was that Jamie was taking Nikki somewhere OTHER than the elevator...so I remember singing a silent cheer in my head when he pressed the elevator button. I didn't want this character to be the typical rock star - I wanted him to be the saint he really was (yeah right... I know). - Michelle P

I also really like this song. I'd say it's tied with Don't Walk Away as my #2 favorite song on the cd, and oddly enough they both have saxophone music. I also love Rick's voice in this. When I hear this song, I think of the scene in the movie where he and Nikki were playing pool, and she was flirting with him. (That's also the scene where Nikki has that line that I've never been able to understand.) I actually really liked this scene, too. It would have been so much better if they had actually followed through with it, instead of Jamie sending her away. I always thought they had much better chemistry than he and Diana (even though yes, she was a spoiled little B*tch). After reading the words, I do think this fits their characters in the movie pretty well. Jamie was ready to leave, wanted to get away, Nikki was still hanging on. 

When I went to see Rick on tour for this album, I never in a million years thought I'd hear this song live. But, he actually had a video of Randy Crawford playing and he sang along with that. I'd give anything to see footage of that again. - rlh

I like this song, even though it has never sounded "Rick-ish" to me from a musical standpoint. It has an almost `classical music' sound to it. More Rick music with the sax mixed in! But it sounds appropriate in this song. I was a little bit taken back for a moment the first time I heard it, but I found I still liked it as I gave it a closer listen (even if it did sound like it was out of Rick's genre.) I remember a few of my friends back then thought this song `sucked,' and all the while I was truly liking it. I thought it was cool hearing Rick sing a duet with a female. They sounded awesome together! So I began to listen to this song alone, (their loss, my gain!) when it was just me and "Rick." ;-) I felt (and still feel) it's a great piece of work and it `fits' the movie to a T. This song is one of my favorite scenes in the movie too! 

Even though I adored the song, I didn't have a clue what the phrase Taxi Dancing meant. To this day, I'm still not sure if I know exactly what it's supposed to mean. I do know it has nothing to do with an actual taxi! I think it's just a way of saying that you're in a relationship because it's become a habit. You're `dancing' along and just going through the motions. The love is fading, but no one wants to admit it. It's become a relationship of convenience now. Rick even says that in the lyrics---"Are we just together for convenience sake?" It would be so easy to fall into that trap. You want the feeling you once had together and hope that it'll somehow reappear, but you know it won't. 

I'm so glad the lyrics are up for this song and that someone knows what the heck Rick is saying in the background as Randy is singing! That's always drove me nuts trying to decipher Rick's part. My ear finds it almost impossible to hear those lyrics. Interesting how the female part is basically blowing off his notion that something is wrong and that he feels the `magic is gone.'---"I don't believe that. I don't think that's true. It'll just pass if we allow it to. It's just a stage, we're going through. I think you're just restless for something new." Meanwhile he is in the background as she sings saying he feels "tied down," and that he needs to "break free." I like where he says, "They say clean cuts heal much faster." He wants to break it off in a quick civil manner, without a lot of pain and emotional stuff. I can really see how this song works for the movie scene. Jamie is ready to move on from Nikki. His feelings have changed, and really…so have hers, but she keeps trying to hang on and recapture the love/lust they once had for each other. 

I like how Rick uses the comparison of a relationship ending to that of a song ending.---"And the band that was playing has finally stopped playing our favorite song." He even uses the word "jukebox" in a line, which goes along with the idea that their love has been like a song, a `slow dance for two`---"Baby, put one last nickel in the jukebox. Give that love we once felt just one final spin around." It has a way of creating imagery when you hear it, but we know that he doesn't mean a literal `jukebox.` Very cool writing, I think! Another clever line---"Seems to me we haven't danced for long." Again, it ties into the whole image of dancing around to your favorite song on the jukebox. But I think what he literally means is that she wants to believe their relationship is just getting started and there's so much more left for them, but she really knows better. Her head knows it's time to move on, but her heart wants to hang on. It's always interesting to me how Rick uses the word "dance" so frequently in his songs, but with the word posing for so many different meanings. 

I know I've said it a dozen times (and will probably say it 20 dozen more times), but Rick's way with words amazes me. His songwriting abilities are brilliant and universal. I think this song (whether you like the actual music or not) is no exception. It hits on something that so many people in this world have experienced at some point in their life. 

I like the latest release of this song too, the one that's on the 25th Anniversary of WCD. The "new" one is the `original' version of Taxi Dancing, but I find that I'm fonder of this version with Randy Crawford. If I'd heard the other version first, I might say I like it better. I guess it depends on which one you're used to.   - Kelley Pearson

I really like this song. I don't like the pairing of Rick and Randy Crawford. I think that the uniqueness of her voice just kind of overshadowed the whole song. I don't think her voice was good with Rick's either. I think he would be better with a female voice in the higher range. Example: I thought he sounded quite good with Cheryl Ladd when he appeared on her TV show although they should have let him at least hold a guitar, the poor thing just has no idea what to do with his hands and what he did just looked so odd to me, but that's another review. When I first heard this song I wasn't at all sure Rick had wrote it. I think he did a very good job at his first writing of a soundtrack. This song in particular had a very nice style to it.  - Elizabeth S.

This song grew on me. Initially I wonder if I skipped it a lot because I am not really a fan of duets, but the more I listened to it, and the longer I found myself a public fan, the more I appreciated it.

The song starts off in a very subtle way, a very light tapping, almost tropical beat. The music is pretty. They sing it well, but I don't think they are connected with the song, and by that I mean I cant really hear too much sadness in the voices that sing what is describing a relationship that is over. It's too pretty and composed. I'm not sure the song would have worked with more grit and angst in the voices though, so  I have to say they did a good job.

Again, it is the lyrics that suck me in. It's become a personal thing for me. 'Feeling like we pay our dime and all we get in return is a piece of each others time'. How true. I find that Rick is one of the few musicians who can use the same word successively, and so close together: 'And the band that was playing has finally stopped playing our favorite song'. This song makes me sad, the sax wipes my eyes. - Kat M.

I saw Rick perform this song at my first concert also. It was so cool how they had screens set up and Randy Crawford was singing and Rick sang along with her. I love the parts where they 'intertwine' their lyrics and sing them both at the same time. Very unique for sure! 

Rick must have been into the sax back then, because it shows up in lots of his music at this time, and it's one of my more enjoyable sounds next to the guitar and the keyboards. So, it goes without saying, that this is a song I enjoy very much! - Amy L.