Every single part of me dances. And that 45-rpm record plays over and over and over, and we're singing with Little Richard now, we're blowing saxophones! And if Daddy drives up in his pickup, you know he'd yell at us, white women dancing like taht, you know he would! But Daddy doesn't drive up, and me and Mama go on dancing and all the Ya-Yas and the rest of the kids are yelling and clapping for us! Oh, they yell and clap and hoot and holler." pg. xii

"You have to start earlyif you plan to be popular. Mama was extremely popular when she was growing up." pg. 5

"One thing Mama will not stand for is deliberate cruelty. Deliberate cruelty is the reason I got belt-whipped last Thanksgiving and couldn't go to dance class for two weeks because of the marks on my legs." pg. 12

"We are swinging...