Ten Favorite Songs About Circuses and Clowns
(This came in response to a similar list on Alfred Soto’s blog, Humanizing the Vacuum, which is a daily stop for me and chock full of lists with which I can’t help agreeing, disagreeing, and quibbling. One of my songs makes his list of 25; the other nine don’t. I’ve arranged them in order of preference.)
1941 by Harry Nilsson (listen)
You’re the Circus (I’m the Clown) by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (listen)
The Show Must Go On by Leo Sayer (listen)
Carnival Knowledge (Second Hand Face) by John Gorka (listen)
The Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (listen)
John Wayne Gacy, Jr. by Sufjan Stevens (listen)
Clowns by Too Much Joy (listen)
The Carnival Is Over by Dead Can Dance (listen)
The Kid by David Wilcox (listen) *
Damn Everything But the Circus by The Story (listen)
* This one’s a cover; I also like the original, by Buddy Mondlock.
— December 28, 2021