Song title: Circus song
Circus song - Early 1973 version
The machinist climbs his ferris wheel like a brave
And the fire eater’s lyin’ in a pool of sweat victim of the heatwave
Behind the tent the leatherboy tightens his legs
On the sword swallower’s blade
Circus town’s on the shortwave
Well now (and) the runway lies ahead like a great false dawn
Oh fat lady, Missy Bimbo, sits in her chair and yawns
And the man-beast lies in his cage sniffin’ popcorn
The midget licks his fingers and suffers Missy Bimbo’s scorn
The circus town’s been born
Oh and a (the) press-roll drummer go, ballerina to-and-fro
Cart-wheelin’ up on (across) the tightrope
(And) with a cannon blast, lightning flash, moving fast through
The tent Mars bent, he’s gonna miss his fall
Oh God save the human cannonball
And the flying Zambini’s watch Marguerita do her neck twist
(And) the ringmaster gets the crowd to count along
Ninety-five, ninety-six,....ninety-seven
And behind the tent half bent money spent
With his wet face fallin’ (make-up drippin’) on the ground
With a half-smile half-frown goin’ down
Oh Jesus sent some sweet women to save all the clowns
And circus boy dances like a monkey on barbed wire
And the barker romances with a junkie, she’s got a flat tyre
And the elephants dance real funky, and the band plays like a jungle fire
Circus town’s on the live wire
Samson lifts the midget up above the liars
Hear the liars, they’re outside crying
Hear the liars, they’re inside sighing
Hear the liars, listenin’ to the barker
Hear the liars, watching the centre ring
Oh hear the liars, up on the trapeze
Oh hear the liars, feel their fire
Oh hear the liars, feel their fire
Oh hear the liars, they’re all scared of dying
Well anybody wants to try the big top
All aboard, Nebraska’s our next stop Notes:
Early stage of Wild Billy's circus story. These lyrics refer to the Jan-Mar 1973 version
Circus song - 24-Apr-1973 version
The machinist climbs his ferris wheel like a brave
And the fire eater's lyin' in a pool of sweat victim of the heatwave
Behind the tent the leatherboy tightens his legs
On the sword swallower's blade
Circus town's on the shortwave
Well the runway lies ahead like a great false dawn
Oh fat lady, Big Mama, Missy Bimbo, sits in her chair and yawns
And the man-beast lies in his cage sniffin' popcorn
The midget licks his fingers and suffers Missy Bimbo's scorn
The circus town's been born
Oh and the press-roll drummer go, ballerina to-and-fro
Cart-wheelin' up on the tightrope
With a cannon blast, lightning flash, moving fast through
The tent Mars bent, he's gonna miss his fall
Oh God save the human cannonball
And the flying Zambini's watch Marguerita do her neck twist
The ringmaster gets the kids to count along
Ninety-five, ninety-six,....ninety-seven
And behind the tent half bent money spent
With his wet face drippin on the ground
With a half-smile half-frown goin' down
Oh Jesus sent some sweet women to save all the clowns
And circus boy dances like a monkey on barbed wire
And the barker romances with a junkie, she's got a flat tyre
And the elephants dance real funky, and the band plays like a jungle fire
Circus town's on the live wire
And strongman Samson lifts the midget, Little Tiny Tim, way up on his shoulders
Way up above the liars
Little Tiny goes "Where the liars?"
Samson goes "Outside parking the cars in the parking lot"
Little Tiny goes "Where the liars?"
Samson goes "Over there whispering, making deals with the barker"
Little Tiny goes " Sampson, Where's the liars?"
"There inside signing"
Little Tiny goes "Sampson where's the liars?"
"Oh outside crying"
Oh hear the liars, feel their fire
Oh hear the liars, feel their fire
Oh hear the liars, they're all scared of dying
Well anybody wants to try the big top
All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop Notes:
Early stage of Wild Billy's circus story. These lyrics refer to the 24-Apr-1973 version
Published on the following official releases:
- CIRCUS SONG (PLAYBACK) (7 in.,1973)
- BORN TO RUN 30TH ANNIVERSARY (Album,2005)
Very few performances of this songs are known (to me, at least!):
- 01/12/1972 Kenny's Castaways, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
note: this date is only indicative of the general period
- 31/01/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 01/02/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 03/02/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 04/02/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 05/02/1973 Max's Kansas City, New York,NY ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 02/03/1973 Community Theatre, Berkeley,CA ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 24/04/1973 The Main Point, Bryn Mawr,PA ,USA during the Greetings Tour
- 01/05/1973 Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles,CA ,USA
- 02/06/1973 Whfs Studios, Bethesda,MD ,USA
Data from the www.brucespringsteen.it database
First known live performance: 01/12/1972 Kenny's Castaways, New York,NY ,USA
Last known live performance: 02/06/1973 Whfs Studios, Bethesda,MD ,USA
Song 'history':
Played live 8 time(s) during the so-called 'Greetings Tour'
.
Keep in mind that only a small amount of the setlists of these years has surfaced, so it may have been played a lot more.
Apart from the above live performances, the song was recorded for the Laurel Canyon / London Publishing demos
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[HttpException (0x80004005): Session state has created a session id, but cannot save it because the response was already flushed by the application.]
System.Web.SessionState.SessionIDManager.SaveSessionID(HttpContext context, String id, Boolean& redirected, Boolean& cookieAdded) +8658693
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