The Clown

The Clown - Charles Mingus

Man there was this clown

And he was a real happy guy a real happy guy

He had all these greens and all these yellows and all

These oranges bubbling around inside of him

And he had just one thing he wanted in this world

He just wanted to make people laugh

That's all he wanted out of this world

We was a real happy guy

Let me tell you about this clown

He used to a raise a sweat every night

Out on the stage and just wouldn't stop

That's how hard he worked

He was trying to make people laugh

He used to have this cute little gimmick

Where he had a seal follow him up and down a step-ladder

Blowing Columbia the gem of the ocean out on a b-flat scale

Sears-roebuck a model thirteen twenty-two A plastic bugle

A real cute act but they didn't laugh

Well you know a few little things here and there

But not really and he was booking out in all these tank towns

Playing the rotary clubs the Kiwanis clubs and the American legion hall;

And he just wasn't making it

But he had all these wonderful things going on inside of him

All these greens and yellows and all these oranges

He was a real happy guy

And all he wanted to do was to make these people laugh

That's all he wanted out of this world

To make people laugh and then something began to grow

Something that just wasn't good began growing

Inside of his head

You know it's a funny thing

Something began to trouble this clown

You know little things little things once in a while would happen

That would make that crowed begin to howl

But they were never the right things

Like for example the time the seal got sick on the stage

All over the stage the crowd just

Just broke out little things like that

And they weren't suppose to

They weren't supposed to be funny

This began to trouble him and it bothered him

And this little thing began to grow inside of him

And all those greens and all those oranges and all those yellows

They just weren't as bright as they used to be

And all he wanted to do was to make that crowd laugh

That's all he wanted to do

There was this one night

When he was playing at the rotary club

All these dentists all these druggists

All these postmen sitting around

And they were a real cold bunch nothing was happening

He was leaving the stage when he stumbled over his ladder

And fell flat on his face just flat on his face

When he stands up and he's got this bloody nose

And he looks out at the crowd

And that crowd is just rolling on the floor

He's just knocked them flat out

This begins to trouble and even more

He begins to see something he begins to see something

And right about here is when things began to change

But really change

Not the least of which our clown changes his act

He bought himself a set of football pads

A yellow helmet with red stripes

Hired a girl who dropped a 5-pound sac

Of flour on his head every night

Maybe twenty feet up Oh man what a pit

That just broke them up every night

But not like the buke

And all those colors

All those yellows all those reds all those oranges

A lot of gray in them now

Not blue

And all he wanted was to make this crowd laugh

That's all he wanted out of this world

They were laughing alright

Not like the buke but they were laughing

And all the dough started coming in

He was playing the big towns

Chicago Detroit and then it was Pittsburgh one night

A real fine town Pittsburgh you know

But three quarters way through his act a rope broke

Down came the backdrop right on the back of the neck

And he went flat and something broke this was it

It hurt way down deep inside he tried to get up

He looked out at the audience

And you should've man you should've

You should've seen that crowd

They was rolling in the aisle

This was bigger than the buke

This was bigger than the buke

He really had them going

This was it this was the last one

This was the last one This was the last one

He knew now man he really knew now

But it was too late

And all he had wanted was to make this crowd laugh

Well they were laughing But now he knew

That was the end of the clown

And you should have seen the bookings coming

Man his agent was on the phone for 24 hours

The Palladium MCA William Morris But it was too late

He really knew now

He really knew

He really knew now

William Morris sent regrets