She walks alone down a sleazy backstreet 
Around a corner, up an alley to a dead end 
There under a small blue light 
She enters an unmarked doorway 
(A low heartbeat, a low pounding escapes into the night) 
This is a place she goes to fulfill a very basic need 
Something people have been doing since the dawn of man 
To communicate without talking 
If she needs something 
She makes a gesture with her hand 
And mouths what she wants 
She wants to make a connection 
A certain kind of connection 
No this is not about something from the black market 
This is about no questions 
This is about smoke and sweat and beats 
This is about no message 

take your partner by the hand 
He's a woman, she's a man 
What's so hard to understand 
take your partner by the hand 
Mona in the promised land 
take your partner by the hand 
Keep it simple if you can 
take your partner by the hand 

At the club they circle around some sex goddess like vultures 
Flashbulbs popping 
Like bees around their queen 
She is completely indifferent to all the commotion 
And orders some mango tango ice cream by sign language 
She's approached by some wild-eyed poet drunk with love 
I like her easy refusal, the way she shakes her head 
She lives these days in the attic of an old dance hall 
That's been shut down for years 
And swears there's times when she can hear feet shuffling below 
And can see the shadows swaying, moving to the music 

take your partner by the hand 
He's a woman, she's a man 
What's so hard to understand 
take your partner by the hand 
Mona in the promised land 
take your partner by the hand 
Keep it simple if you can 
take your partner by the hand 

Elevator going up 
Fifth floor 
Lady's handbags, shoes, leather accessories, and electronics 
Wait a minute, where am I, on this elevator to nowhere 
Going up, going down 
Then like a hallucination 
I saw her out of the corner of my eye 
Studying some shoes very carefully 
She definitely had a particular purpose for these shoes in mind 
Then as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared 
Back into the slash and burn of New York 
Ah, stuck in traffic 
Crosstown, the stress of not moving 
She described it as like being locked in a car 
With a madman behind the wheel 
And the radio tuned to static 

take your partner by the hand 
He's a woman, she's a man 
What's so hard to understand 
take your partner by the hand 
Mona in the promised land 
take your partner by the hand 
Keep it simple if you can 
take your partner by the hand