IT'S NOT WHERE YOU START
From the Broadway Musical "Seesaw" (1973)
(Cy Coleman / Dorothy Fields)


Tommy Tune & Company (Broadway Production) - 1973
Shirley MacLaine - 1976
Barbara Cook - 1993


Also recorded by: Maggie Worsdale; Lyric Theatre Singers.




It's not where you start, it's where you finish 
It's not how you go, it's how you land 
A hundred to one shot, you call him a clutz 
Can out run the favorite, all he needs is the guts 
Your final return will not diminish 
And you can be the cream of the crop 
It's not where you start, it's where you finish 
And you're gonna finish on top 


If you start at the top, you're certain to drop 
You've got to watch your timing, better begin by climbing
Up, up, up the ladder
If you're going to last, you can't make it fast, man
Nobody starts a winner, give me a slow beginner
Easy does it my friend, conserve your fine endurance 
Easy does it my friend, for that's your life insurance
While you are young, take it rung after rung after rung after rung after rung after rung after rung after rung


It's not where you start, it's where you finish, 
It's not how you go, it's how you land 
A hundred to one shot, you call him a clutz 
Can out run the favorite, all he needs is the guts 
Your final return will not diminish 
And you can be the cream of the crop
It's not where you start, it's where you finish 
And you're gonna finish on top!



(Contributed by  - September 2007)