"Heart Upon Demand" lyrics - JOHN GORKA

I dreamed of Judy Garland and of her bottled blues
Resting in a dressing room, shaking star dust from her shoes

She spoke of her beginnings at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
And of touching millions with no one really there
A child of the movies in a pyrite golden age
I never knew the price she paid for a life upon that stage.

Judy had that catch in her voice
That put your heart into her hand
Judy, she had trouble, Judy had no choice
But to give her heart upon demand
She had to give her heart upon demand

She had trouble sleeping and waking for the day
With studio prescriptions to keep her thin and fey
They'd work her to exhaustion propelled by benzedrine
Then call her unreliable if she would miss a scene
From vaudeville in Grand Rapids to the walkway of the stars
Who'd have known a girl so young could have gone that far?

The Palladium in London, the Palace in New York
The come-back of a trouper when God wondered at her work
She asked me of the movie stars and singers of today
I said I couldn't think of one she wouldn't blow away
She laughed and then she thanked me and said she had to go
For there were rainbows waiting down along a golden road

I dreamed of Judy Garland all on a summer's night
Resting in a dressing room packing stardust for her flight