One Night Only Lyrics

He got shafted in Bradford

For his out of date routines up there

And the trouble he ran into Brighton

Was more than his share

He's been running for thirty years

He would have settled down

But each town he appears in

Puts a red nose on the clown

You can buy the old show-bills and frame them

They're nearly antiques

You can trip up on his big clown shoes

As you're starting to speak

He squirts the flower, hurts your hand

It'll always catch you

And his tears are etched so deep

That they might just be tattooed

The one man circus is coming to town

Put the banners up, take your trousers down

Paint on a smile, wipe off the frown

Heaven knows he won't hurt us

The loose, the lovely and the lonely

One night only

He said "I played Chaplin for Hitler in March 44

Been a black and white minstrel

Before that whole thing was outlawed

And I've dragged it on every pier

In every seaside town

But there aren't any dances today

The pavilions have all been pulled down.

I came over straight after the war

And they hijacked my name

I waited for so many years

But my wife never came

I've been learning these lines every day since 1945

And I'll recite them everyday I wished I was alive."

The one man circus is coming to town

Get the dogs out, tear the posters down

Paint go home on the walls

Till he is elsewhere bound

Don't you know he could hurt us

The loose, the lovely and the lonely

One night only

He's tripping over backwards

Taking off his clothes

And no-one helps him, everyone knows

We laugh at the misfortune of others

Every time the glass empties

The lions they all get set free

On a town full of unsuspecting tourists

Who scream when they're happy

And the scarecrow's on probation

Just for making faces in a mirror

The past put a hand on his shoulder

And drowned him in tears

Now he ushers and watched the movies

Where children don't age

And the dancing horse stole all the keys

And took charge of the stage

And the freaks are on the razzmatazz

They're all fueled on coke and gin

And the cast-out's on the street

And we've already let him in

The one man circus