Souvenirs
He's been around the world and much of it was queer
He got a nasty little rash from a brothel in Tangiers.
A knife it missed his artery in a harem in Algiers
And from a whore in Rotterdam he got Gonorrhoea.
Now he works the fairground, looks back on his career
And anyone who's interested he shows his souvenirs.
He lost a finger and an arm to a grenadier
He lost an eye in Africa to a bushman's spear.
He's been in wicked storms on all the seven seas
He's had scurvy and the plague and tropical disease.
Now he works the fairground, looks back on his career
And anyone who's interested he shows his souvenirs.
Sleep with the fishes
We sail in a ship and the timbers are weak
Through the storm clouds the rainbows the rainbows we seek
We sail for horizons that one day will end
To sleep with the fishes on that we depend
The storm when it breaks we shiver with fear
In our bowels we do know we'll face no new year
We sail for horizons that one day will end
To sleep with the fishes on that we depend
The sea rips us open like a vice cracks a nut
Like a bum is cut down by a left upper cut
We sail for horizons that one day will end
To sleep with the fishes on that we depend
Freakshow
Albino dwarfs & dancing bears & midgets with full body hair
A girl who has a fishes tail, a boy the body of a snail
A man with the head of a bird, a girl who shits bricks as turds
Siamese twins joined at the head, a girl who though alive is dead
A man who bleeds through hands and eyes, a girl who has a donkeys thighs
This Freakshow is the best in town this Freakshow is the worst around.
A man who has no head or arms, a girl a dog sexually charms
They're animal eroticists, the sailors leer at them half pissed
A fire eater burns his throat, a jealous lover at him gloats
A contortionist tells a joke while a Gorilla him does poke
A girl who bites off chickens heads, they run around till they are dead
This Freakshow is the best in town this Freakshow is the worst around.
Danced All Night
We could have danced all night into the morning light in that cheap penny arcade
We could have danced all night into the morning light in that cheap penny arcade
But fate is cruel sometimes, Fate is so unkind in the games that it plays
So now I stand beside your graveside and I cry everyday
So till time does heal every scar and weal I shall cry every day
Bearded Lady
He loves the bearded lady she loves the tattooed man
this one he's an acrobat each one of thems damned
Jimmy the pickpocket will take you by the hand
he'll smile at you politely but your purse it will be damned
A whore who works the fair ground her name is Crystal Lil
over there's her boy friend he'll sell you any pill
Gypsy Joe's a Cut throat when he's not out on smack
so if you want your husband killed he their throat will slash
Billy boy the barker he likes to cheat at cards
he's been caught out so many times you can see the scars
The knife throwers got alcohol upon his breath
one day he's going to be so drunk he will cause a death
The gypsies they are dancing, dancing to the moon
and each one in this fair ground each one they are doomed
Cheapest show
The lion he has got false teeth, the fire eater is a cheat
the exotic dancer is antique.
The high-wire artist broke his nose, the dancing bears got gangrened toes,
& all the artists need new clothes.
Cut price is the acrobat, the fortune teller is a hack, the clowns make up is all cracked
It's the cheapest show you've ever seen
with drunks drug addicts & old queens
its garish gaudy & obscene.
Half the staff are pimps & whores
too old to do it anymore,
they're all old, ugly, stupid, poor
The boss drinks like an unblocked drain
he's ugly stupid & he's vain & he's so in debt he should elope to Spain
The big top it has got more holes than a dart board
its so old, its gangrened green with mould.
It's the cheapest show you've ever seen
with drunks drug addicts & old queens
its garish gaudy & obscene.
Send In the Clowns
Isn't it rich, aren't we a pair.
Me all alone on the ground, you in mid-air.
Isn't it bliss, don't you approve.
One who keeps tearing around, one who can't move.
Just when I stopped opening doors,
realizing what I wanted was yours.
Don't you like farce, my fault I fear.
I thought you wanted what I wanted, sorry my dear.
Making my entrance with unusual flair, sure of my lines but no-bodies there.
Isn't it rich, isn't it queer,
losing my timing this late in my career.
Send in the clowns, yes send in the clowns well maybe next year
Pretty Lisa
Pretty Lisa's selling candy, selling candy by the bar
Pretty Lisa's working hard to be a high wire star
Well her life is just a journey upon a roundabout
Every thing is very pretty until the ride runs out
Dashing Tony is her trainer he got straight white teeth
Lisa thinks he is an angel but he's a pimp and he's a thief
Tony has his pretty Lisa tattooed from head to toe
Now she's working in a booth in the freak-show
Tony hits his pretty Lisa but everything is fine
The tattooes hide the bruises every time
Circus Clown
Ice Cream and candy floss, parents with dosh, those were the times I liked best
Dancing the tango with my mon amour, better than all of the rest.
Children they laugh, children they scream, parents with balloons they all beam
Money is flooding into our tills but nothing is quiet what it seems
Street singers sing, pickpockets pick, girls on cheap wine are all sick
Lilly the prostitute parades her wares for you she will do any trick
Jimmy is selling crack at half price he will supply any vice
A fence a forged document he gives advice on anything not very nice
Circus clown, now your down in a sea of wine you have drowned
Over you
The angels in the sky well each one watched you die & each one sheds their tears for you.
The angels in the sky well each one they do cry & each one they feel sad & blue.
Over you over you.
God reserves a place a very special place a very special place for you
All of heaven mourns & each one is forlorn & each one they feel sad & blue.
Over you over you.
Pall Bearers
The Pall bearers bear the body and the body it is light
The pall bearers bear the body its food for maggots tonight
The pall bearers bear the body and they bear them with grief
Though each one of them is a liar a vagabond and a cheat
The pall bearers bear the body and its real tears they cry
Though they're crying for themselves because they know they to will die
The pall bearer bear the body from the coal black hearse
They know each one of them bears the same gypsy curse
The pall bearer bears the body and they bear it with fear
They wonder if they to will be borne this year
Circus Songs Featuring tales of sad clowns, diseased jugglers, fiendish gigolos' and many other scabrous circus folk. The songs from the Tiger Lillies Circus on one cd, produced by Steve Severin and the Tiger Lillies.
Credits:
Songs Written by Martyn Jacques except 4[?] and 7[S Sondheim]
Martyn Jacques - Voice, Accordion
Adrian Huge - Percussion
Adrian Stout - Double Bass
Steve Severin Keyboards
Produced By Steve Severin and The Tiger Lillies except 6,8,10 The Tiger Lillies
Recorded in London at Pathway[RIP] and Wolf and Amsterdam at VPRO
