Tales from the circus
Maria Daines/Paul Killington
All rights reserved
(mcps) ASCAP
1.04.06
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fiogf49gjkf0d There were fifteen elephants tied by string,
Lions in cages growlin' at things
A one-eyed dancer with a glittery frown
To bring the circus into town
With polished people out in a line
This their festival divine
A once a year, an exotic dream
Once in a lifetime, never been seen
Well they came to rest on Parkers Piece
Come yea gentlefolk, a feast!
Apple bobbin, finger robbin'
Horses, dogs n' children noddin'
All except for one in robes
She the one that lived too close
Hollerin' with fire n' stones
Angry widow, Mary Ann Bones
Well never in her life before
Had she heard an elephant roar the door!
She closed the curtains, wore a hat
And locked away her gingery cat
Nothin' save the wind on wood
Would knock her from this neighbourhood
Nothin' 'ceptin' God himself
Would keep her from her glowin' health
Nights the roarin' came n' went
And nothin' but her time was spent
She mithered up, n' she mithered down
She bellowed at the work of clowns
She drew a face upon the floor
And stamped n' kicked it like a horse ~
No wonder when the big top raised
The ringmaster was all a' daze
His shoulders prickled, he was doomed
Damned and set upon by gloom
His tamers and trapezers fell
Down with somethin' ill as hell
Nobody could work it out
As skilled repairmen fell about
Why girls in fancy sequinned skirts
Were grey as mourners behind a hearse
'It's a curse' they cried 'A Curse! A Curse!'
This illness here is gettin' worse
The women all grew beards n' whiskers
Roustabouts were froze with blisters
Nothin' worked n' nothin' stayed
The big top stung like a barbers shave
Children cried n' candy soured
Lions slept away the hours
Dogs went lame n' horses neighed
The thunder broke this sad parade...
And Cambridge rattled to the sound
Of one last circus leavin' town
Until the end of captured creatures
Bony Mary Ann was speechless
In the window, candles lit
She spelled the demon of her fits
She willed it so, she wished it done
A hymn that bothered on her tongue
Not one livin' thing should die
Caged by wire, n' ropes n' ties
Let 'em loose she chanted high
And blazed her orders to the sky
Nothin' in this dusty town
Had seen the like of a big top down
They packed it up and they set 'em free
And fifteen elephants roared in key!
No make no bones this is the truth
She told me, for she had the proof
A tale of ivory kept so long
She died before she wrote this song
Oh, oh the circus is gone...
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