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Cirkus Lyrics

Night: her sable dome scattered with diamonds
Fused my dust from a light year
Squeezed me to her breast, sowed me with carbon
Strung my warp across time
Gave me each horse, sunrise and graveyard
Told me only I was her
Bid me face the east closed me in questions
Built the sky for my dawn

Cleaned my feet of mud, followed the empty
Zebra ride to the Cirkus
Past a painted cage, spoke to the paybox
Glove which wrote on my tongue
Pushed me down a slide to the arena
Megaphonium fanfare
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
Bid me join the parade

"Worship!" cried the clown. "I'm a T.V.
Making bandsmen go clockwork
See the slinky seal Cirkus policeman
Bareback ladies have fish"
Strongmen by his feet, plate-spinning statesman
Accrobatically juggling
Bids his tamers go quiet the tumblers
Lest the mirror stop turning

Elephants forgot, force-fed on stale chalk
Ate the floors of their cages
Strongmen lost their hair, paybox collapsed and
Lions sharpened their teeth
Gloves raced round the ring, stallions stampeded
Pandemonium seesaw
I ran for the door, ringmaster shouted
"All the fun of the Cirkus!"
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13 Meanings

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Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

I think that its a metaphor for a world gone rotten. Its told from two perspectives, that of the human, who gets sucked in and becomes a part of the circus, and that of some sort of "mother nature"-like character. The song narrates how this circus comes to town and in all of its extravagance and wonder nobody notices the obscenity of it and how its destroying everything natural until it collapses in on itself. Could relate to drugs or america, dunno, thats my take.

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

This song has the most awsome rhymes/lyrics of any song i know

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

Agreed!

Worship! cried the clown I am a TV making bandsmen go clockwork...

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

I'm prettyu sure this song has many metaphors heh, to me, the music sounds quite intense. just a thought...

but on the whole, amazing song!!

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

wow this is one of my favourite KC songs. so many parts to it. the sax solo is so smooth its amazing.

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

A masterpiece!

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

Something to do with the world/media/society being a stage? A sideshow etc..

Whatever the case, it is more than my feeble mind can conceive. I am unworthy of the genius that is KC.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

Wouldn't it be nice if you write the songmeaning of the song???

Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

A nightmare about being trapped in an evil circus.

Song Meaning
Cover art for Cirkus lyrics by King Crimson

Lucifer is "arrayed like diamonds in the sky" and given power over time to warp it and change the times and to eventually effect the dividing of time. He is given a "sunrise" for he is a morning star whose name means morningstar. He is given a horse for he is the first horseman. He is given a graveyard for he shall surely die. He is set to face the east because from west to east he proceeds. He travels closed in questions, cloaked in words because he understands dark sentences. He IS the ringmaster (see: the works of "Insane Clown Posse", and Robert Anton Wilson's "Wilhelm Reich In Hell") He is the Crimson King. This is his Cirkus!

Song Meaning