This thread's been retired for seven or eight years, but recent news stories have caused me to re-open it.
Here's my favourite circus song that I've decided to start singing again after a few years off.


Circus Song       David Essig

Fat boy plays the guitar in the back of his old trailer
For the flipper man and the little flipper girl
And he stares across the vacant lot as he sings Hank Williams' Lonesome
Draws a curtain tied around his sideshow world

And the flipper man says he smokes too much as he lights another Camel
At the mention of his wife he shakes his head
She could never take the circus life she couldn't stand the travel
And he tries to get his little girl to bed.

And Shorty Jones the wheelchair clown and assistant chief mechanic
He's lying fast asleep in the lighting gear
He lost his legs when his ship went down in the frozen North Atlantic
And he put an end to a major league career.

   So get your tickets early grab the kids and come on down
   To the carnival, the circus is in town
   They'll be spills and thrills for children of all ages young and old.
   For the people in the carnival it's just another day on the road.

Now the motorcycle thrill rider's got a steel plate in his head
And a kid who flew a chopper in the war.
Now his son's an unknown soldier in a picture by the bed
As his Daddy drives the wall of death once more

And the stripper she says she don't know where the circus life will take her.
Ah the constant bump and grind drives her insane.
She said she's gonna chuck it all someday and become an undertaker
And buy a house in the sunny South of Spain.

So get your tickets...

Now old Bob the midway barker he slumps down at the table
He said he's heard this song how life's a carnival
And it makes him laugh that people think the circus life is special
"It's just another job," he said, "that's all."

So get your tickets...