Clown Strike - Elvis Costello

She’ll fix you with an iron cross

And cover you up with petals

And hang you up with some amber beads

And four or five precious metals

And in that black flamingo chair

You’ll sit among her trophies

And pray to be abandoned

Till you don’t know what hope is

But there’s one thing that i had to keep inside

Because i was shaking

Why don’t you get some pride

There was a clown strike

And the clowns threw down their tools

But you don’t have to play so hard

And i’m nobody’s fool

You don’t have to go so far

'Cause i love you as you are

The big top is deserted now

And the circus girl rehearses

She knows how to turn their heads

And not fall between two horses

But all that seems a simple step

If only i were able

To love you like i want to do

And not by some times table

And it’s pandemonium

For the humble and the mighty

You don’t have to tumble for me

Even a clown knows when to strike

Tell me what you want of me

Or are you terrified of failure?

You put on a superstitious face

Behind all this paraphernalia

We’re not living in a masquerade

Where you only have three wishes

It isn’t easy to see

In a lifetime of mistaken kisses

In this pandemonium

For the humble and the mighty

You don’t have to tumble for me

Even a clown knows when to strike