By Susan Moss (OzWoman)
June 20, 2002

If you did not tan who would you be
And if I did not tan who would I be

Yes, there is a beach on this peninsula
This they cannot shade
Tell me we look overdone
I'll tell you now, it's Coppertone

O Florida girls
They have seen us in our tank tops
In the late-night sun on South Beach
Going out with friends and so hurried
With our tattoos we believe
Shown by the shorter sleeve
Oh girls

Highways seen from hotel windows
Humming neon signs
If they watch us from the rear
Are things much different skating here

O Florida girls
When we saw the "snowbirds" flying south
We envisioned ourselves in the future
And a sense we had of silver rings
Like sunlight threaded through a palm
Like moonrise on the ocean calm
Oh girls

If we drove up A-1-A
Up past West Palm Beach
Following the bluest hair
Following the balmy air
Would we just merge with the traffic
And know things get worse after dark
We're so sick of forgetting our way to remember where we parked
And they say yeah, but why so old, and so Floridian
I guess it's got to feel like some exodus
And if they succeed, well there will be more of us
And if they don't well, whew, what a relief!

Girls
Who have left our unrung cellphones
Where we had so much time to ourselves
That everyone had her own pareo
Well if you think of this girl and her tiki hut
Carve your secrets on a coconut
And float it far across the water

'Cause if I did not tan, who would I be
And if you did not tan who would you be