John Wesley Harding - One Night Only Lyrics
He got shafted in Bradford for his out of date routines up thereAnd the trouble he ran into Brighton was more than his shareHe's been running for thirty years, he would have settled downBut each town he appears in puts a red nose on the clownYou can buy the old showbills and frame them, they're nearly antiquesYou can trip up on his big clown shoes as you're starting to speakHe squirts the flower, hurts your hand, it'll always catch youAnd his tears are etched so deep that they might just be tattooedThe one man circus is coming to townPut the banners up, take your trousers downPaint on a smile, wipe off the frownHeaven knows he won't hurt usThe loose, the lovely and the lonelyOne night onlyHe said 'I played Chaplin for Hitler in March 44Been a black and white minstrel before that whole thing was outlawedAnd I've dragged it on every pier in every seaside townBut there aren't any dances today, the pavilions have all been pulled downI came over straight after the war and they hijacked my nameI waited for so many years but my wife never cameI've been learning these lines every day since 1945And I'll recite them everyday I wished I was alive'The one man circus is coming to townGet the dogs out, tear the posters downPaint go home on the walls til he is elsewhere boundDon't you know he could hurt usThe loose, the lovely and the lonelyOne night onlyHe's tripping over backwards, taking off his clothesAnd no-one helps him, everyone knowsWe laugh at the misfortune of othersEverytime the glass empties, the lions they all get set freeOn a town full of unsuspecting tourists who scream when they're happyA
