The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #172407   Message #4172839
Posted By: cnd
22-May-23 - 04:01 PM
Thread Name: ADD: The Clown (Mickey McConnell)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Death of the clown Cathal McConnel's bro
Pretty close, I'd say. Here's a few differences I heard:

Back in the Summer of 73
Some time after the matinee
A one-lion circus in a one-horse town
Suffered the loss of its senior clown
And the upside-down lady on the low trapeze
Caught him gasping on his weak patched knees
Swift sure hands tucked him into his bed
The smile was painted but the clown was dead
The smile was painted but the clown was dead

And we bade our farewells by the candy floss stand
To the grease-painted corpse in the Bedford land **
On the tall high hill of the cluttered stones
We laid down his funny bones
Eternity’s just a one-night stand
Sawdust to sawdust, sand to sand
Flip flop shoes and a cherry nose
He’s gone to God in his working clothes
He’s gone to God in his working clothes

The strong man built him a box of pine
The 8 o’clock show ran at ten to nine
The juggler juggled with greatest of ease
And the bright smile flew on the low trapeze
We buried him deep in the dead of night
The tent came down in the morning light
And all that was left on the morrow morn
Was a sawdust circle and a square forlorn
A sawdust circle and a square forlorn

But I’ll always remember the heart-breaking sound
Of the grave diggers spade in the stony ground
Beside the tomb of Monsignor Jones
We laid down his funny bones
We laid down his funny bones

Eternity’s just a one-night stand
Sawdust to sawdust, sand to sand
Flip flop shoes and a cherry nose
He’s gone to God in his working clothes
Beside the tomb of Monsignor Jones
They both went to God in their working clothes

** (not 100% sure about this, but I don't think bedroom is quite right. Maybe backward?)