Lyrics to
Wild Billy’s Circus Story

This version of Wild Billy’S Circus Story was released by Bruce Springsteen in 1973.

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The machinist climbs his Ferris wheel like a braid
And the fire-eater’s lyin’ in a pool of sweat, victim of the heat wave
Behind the tent, the hired hand tightens his legs on the sword swallower’s blade
Circus town’s on the shortwave

Well, the runway lies ahead like a great false dawn
Fat lady, big mama, Missy Bimbo sits in her chair and yawns
And the man-beast lies in his cage sniffin’ popcorn
And the midget licks his fingers and suffers Missy Bimbo’s scorn
Circus town’s been born

And a press roll drummer go, ballerina to-and-fro, cartwheelin’ up on that tightrope
With a cannon blast, lightnin’ flash, movin’ fast through the tent, Mars-bent
He’s gonna miss his fall, oh, God save the human cannonball
And the flyin’ Zambinis watch Margarita do her neck twist
And the ringmaster gets the crowd to count along: 95, 96, 97

A ragged suitcase in his hand, he steals silently away from the circus grounds
And the highway’s haunted by the carnival sounds
They dance like a great greasepaint ghost on the wind
A man in baggy pants, a lonely face, a crazy grin
Runnin’ home to some small Ohio town
Jesus, send some sweet women to save all your clowns

And Circus Boy dances like a monkey on barbed wire
And the barker romances with a junkie, she’s got a flat tire
And now the elephants dance real funky and the band plays like a jungle fire
Circus town’s on the live wire

And the strong man Samson lifts the midget, little Tiny Tim, up on his shoulders, way up
And carries him on down the midway, past the kids, past the sailors, to his dimly lit trailer
And the Ferris wheel turns and turns like it ain’t ever gonna stop
And the circus boss leans over and whispers into the little boy’s ear
“Hey, son, you want to try the big top?
All aboard, Nebraska’s our next stop”

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Bruce Springsteen has released many songs over the years besides Wild Billy’S Circus Story. Bruce Springsteen released songs from 1973 to 2007 spanning across albums like The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, Nebraska, Born In The U.S.A., Tunnel Of Love, Human Touch, Lucky Town, The Ghost Of Tom Joad, The Rising, Devils & Dust, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, and Magic. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bruce Springsteen.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Wild Billy’S Circus Story by Bruce Springsteen

When you decide to study the lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen. Some of the lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Bruce Springsteen and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story" means the words set to the music of Wild Billy’S Circus Story, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bruce Springsteen. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Wild Billy’S Circus Story and the lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bruce Springsteen who came here looking just for the lyrics to Wild Billy’S Circus Story, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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