Couples dance at a ball in a country hall in the 1950s.

New Zealand songwriter Peter Cape’s song ‘Down the hall on Saturday night’, recorded in 1960, perfectly captured the atmosphere of a dance at a local country hall. The song mentions how the blokes rushed outside between dances to swig beer from a keg. The last two verses are:

I had a schottische with the tart from the butchers
Got stuck for a waltz with the constable’s wife
Had a beer from the keg on the cream-truck
And the cop had one too, you can bet your life.

Yeah, it’s great being out with the jokers
When the jokers are sparking and bright,
And it’s great giving cheek to the sheilas
Down the hall on a Saturday night.