Damn Everything but the Circus

[Verse 1]
I was there in the rain when the tent went up
Seventeen, the trapeze or my mother
The ringmaster smiled and shook my hand
"You will be magic," he said to me

[Verse 2]
The strong man smiles and he takes me in
And the tamer in sequins
All is well when the crowd is breathless
As I pursue the trapeze

[Chorus]
So step right up to the small town Big Top
One way out of a small town's the Big Top

[Verse 3]
The ringmaster winks from the funhouse door
The smell of the animals fills the floor (And the flea-bitten horses)
The next thing I know I'm in South Carolina (The next thing I know)
Or Cleveland (I'm in bed) with the boy next door

[Bridge]
'Cause I was there in the rain
When the tent went up
I know the routine
When the tent goes up
God damn the circus (Always there)
God damn everything but the circus (In the rain)

[Verse 4]
Houston is a rotten dump
I don't mind New Orleans
Or the holes in my fishnets
But I mind, I mind

[Verse 5]
The rain when the tent goes up
(I was there when the tent went up)
Seventeen, the trapeze
(All the cages and trailers)
The ringmaster smiles and takes my hand
(Seventeen, the trapeze)
"You will be magic," he says to me
(Or my mother)

[Chorus]
So step right up to the small town Big Top
One way out of a small town's the Big Top
Step right up to the small town Big Top
One way out of a small town–
God damn the circus
(Step right up to the small town Big Top)
God damn everything
(One way out of a small town's the Big Top)
God damn the circus
(Step right up to the small town Big Top)
God damn everything
(One way out of a small town's the Big Top)
But the circus
(Small town Big Top)