Subtitles section Play video
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♪ (ragtime music) ♪
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- (Simon Cowell) Welcome. - Thank you.
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(Simon Cowell) Please, could I have your names?
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- I'm Paddy. - And I'm Nico.
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I will be 80 this July.
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Oh my god! She looks a lot older than that!
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She looks older than 80 though!
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♪ (accordion music) ♪
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This looks ridiculous.
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She's about ready to rip her clothes off, I just know it.
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Well some of the audience looks a little bored.
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♪ (accordion music continues) ♪
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Simon's very bored.
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He's yawning.
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(buzzing)
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That reminded me of "The Gong Show"!
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Yep. Simon doesn't like anybody.
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♪ (salsa music) ♪
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(crowd bursts into cheers)
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Holy cow!
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The old girl's got some little spring in her yet!
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Unbelievable!
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She don't have no 80 year old body. That's for sure.
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Hah hah!
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(raucous laughter)
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Yo' mama!
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(laughter)
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Oh my god!
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She must have a mask on.
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She not 80.
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(laughter) Go granny!
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How much they must've practiced to do that. Wow.
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(cheering from audience)
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Yes!
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(laughter)
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She deserves an ovation.
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Give us Simon Cowell. Oh, he liked it! Shock.
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Bless her heart.
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Wonder what she's doing later.
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Wow, uh...well, I apologize for what I did.
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Well, at least he had enough class to apologize.
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- (Simon) You're an amazing-- - She reminds me of the gal from the Titanic.
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The old lady.
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'Cause you've shown that however old you are you can still be spectacular
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and beautiful and do something amazing.
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She can...all people can.
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- Yeah. - If you want, you can.
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- (wild applause) - That's true.
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I have been a dancer from the age of 2 1/2
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and I gave it up to get married.
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I went to live in Spain with my husband and, unfortunately,
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- after 18 months he died. - Oh.
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And for something to do, I went to Nico's Dance Academy
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to learn something totally different and--
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She learned to dance after her husband died?
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I spoke to the family and I said, "What do you think?"
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And they said, "Well, you gave everything up to have us without a dad.
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- And he would be proud." - (judge) Yes, he would!
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I think that's a good story.
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(judge) You are my hero.
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That is something that I've never seen before--
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A blow for the elders!
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That one got me, guys! That one did.
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Now she's a true role model.
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Be able to dance and do all those actions that she did,
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and under the legs and over the top and, you know...
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it's like Gumby.
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That's really touching.
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Kinda reminds me of my mom was really spectacular on the piano.
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(Finebros) So what's the first word that comes to your mind
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- after you watch something like that? - Inspiring.
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Role model.
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Determination.
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Agility and drive.
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(Finebros) When she first started dancing and it was more normal and slow
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did you have any idea what was about to happen?
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No way.
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I had no idea whatsoever.
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I didn't think it was in the realm of possibilities.
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I expected her to strip her clothes off.
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No, no, and I thought, "Oh man, they are gonna get so shot up."
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You know, people are just gonna start throwing things at 'em.
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(Finebros) Why do you think her performance wowed the crowd so much?
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I think they were not expecting it.
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Our minds do not believe that that can happen.
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They saw a lovely but slightly wrinkled face,
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so there was a perception there that it was going to be some waltz.
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Well, it ain't no waltz, baby!
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And then you see she's got this pure heart and says,
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"I think my husband would be happy." You know, it just chokes me up.
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(Finebros) Do you think with proper training you could dance
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- like she danced? - Not in heels.
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I'm not saying I couldn't take a step, but I think I'd fall on my ass.
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Oh sure.
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I've always been a good dancer.
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With proper training, yes.
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I keep myself in shape to be in the long run.
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(Finebros) She talked about how she had these dancing aspirations
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but she decided to give it up to raise her family.
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Do you relate at all to that idea that there's things you maybe want to do
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with your life, but circumstance ends up leading you into another direction?
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Definitely!
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Absolutely! I loved tap dancing, and I did it for a long time.
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But I got married.
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As a woman, and you're raising a family, that should come first!
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I was a typical little housewife and I didn't really have time
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to do things I really enjoyed.
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I think very, very true of women of my generation.
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You got married and you had children and you stayed home.
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People did not work when they had children.
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By the time you were probably five or six months pregnant,
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the office didn't even let you come in anymore.
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I put off being a registered nurse because I got married
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and I had two kids and I wanted to raise my children
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to be the best people that they can be.
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My husband at that time suggested, "Why don't you go back to school,
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try and be an RN?"
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So that's what I did and I achieved it.
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(Finebros) Why does that happen so often, that you things that you really want
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to do, but you're just not able to pursue them?
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They get older. (chuckling)
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When we're young, we are naive.
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We sort of take things at face value and figure, "Oh everybody's gonna
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have a white picket fence and everybody's gonna live happily ever after!"
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They were wrong.
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Someone else wants you to do this and then to do that.
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You know, so we just get caught up doing this and that
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and we don't put the focus where it needs to be.
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But it is wonderful when a whole lifetime seems to be devoted to the self-sacrifice
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or the caring for others and raising the children.
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And then eventually they start their own lives and it's not too late!
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And so many people are starting all new lives and new careers.
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(Finebros) Do you find that as you've gotten older people dismiss you
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- to a certain degree? - Sure.
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Yes. Oh, yes, I do.
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Until they need money.
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They don't dismiss you at all when they need help.
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You're not a person anymore. You become just some old person.
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As you get older and you're going down the street
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and they don't look at you, they look right through you.
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If people would just look around as they get older and see the people
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that can hardly walk, people who can't walk, they would count their blessings.
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That's what they need to do rather than criticize older people.
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(Finebros) Would you say that even at your age
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- you still have dreams and goals? - Definitely.
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Yeah, live! (laughs)
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That's it. Being alive.
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Yeah, but I'm not gonna tell you what they are.
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Listen to me, Benny.
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Elder people can have dreams too! Okay?
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We're not just some senile old biddies sitting on the coach.
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We do have dreams too, just like when we did when were a child.
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So there.
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(Finebros) Her dancing partner said that anyone can do anything
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no matter who they are. Do you believe that?
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I agree with him 100%.
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I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 60.
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I do.
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If you can bring hope..why not?
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Plenty of other people are trying to tear hope down.
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Everybody can't do everything, whether you're young or old.
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The young people say, "Oh, that's wonderful,
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but I'll do that when I'm their age."
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Don't assume that 'cause we don't know how long we're going to be on this Earth.
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(Finebros) So back to this video, it has over 20 million views.
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Why do you think this video is so popular?
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First of all, it's G rated.
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You can share it with anybody.
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It makes people feel, "Well, maybe my old age isn't going to be
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spelled as an old fart."
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She finally got a chance to really twirl.
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And, you know, maybe it's just that 15 seconds,
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but that's maybe all she needed. It's all I needed, seeing her!
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(Finebros) And, finally, has watching this video inspired you in any way?
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Yeah, it did.
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To know it can be done.
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Very inspiring.
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Age is really attitude.
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Honestly, no.
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But I'm already doing a lot of things, I think, that keep me challenged.
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You don't have to be dead at 20 or 80 or 90!
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Go for 100!
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I just want to keep going. I wanna see what's over the next hill.
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Thank you for watching Elders React.
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Let us know in the comments what video we should react to next.
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Help support the show by giving it a thumbs up!
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Bye!
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I'm going to go to a disco tonight!
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♪ (ragtime music) ♪