By The Landlord
“The circus a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.” – Ambrose Bierce
“Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.” – P. T. Barnum
“Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.” – Juvenal
“ …Albinos, painted Indians, Dwarfs,
The Horse of knowledge, and the learned Pig
All out-o'-the-way, far-fetched, perverted things,
All freaks of nature, all Promethean thoughts
Of man, his dulness, madness, and their feats
All jumbled up together, to compose
A Parliament of Monsters.” – William Wordsworth, The Prelude
Roll up, roll up! What's trundling into town?
Whip-cracking ringmasters? Acrobats and clowns?
Cavalcades of caravans of colourful parading,
Entertainment from containment, spilling out, cascading.
They're putting up the big top for the big event,
Unfolding too the side-shows, erect the spiegeltent.
Arenas, mini-amphitheatres, to sit and stare around,
Exciting egg-shaped venues to amplify the sound.
Are we in Ancient Rome inside the Circus Maximus?
With Juvenal's remark on bread, and also taxing us?
Chariots, lions, Christians? Gladiators' glory?
More often though in limb-torn states of bloody-gutsy-gory.
Perhaps let's vault to London, to mid-18th century,
And join that circus pioneer, the showman Philip Astley,
His tightrope walkers, jugglers, his clowns and acrobats
Were fill-ins for his equine tricks in the field Ha'Penny Hatch.
From then a worldwide culture spreading far and wide,
Europe, China, US, people flocked to go ringside,
Ducrow, Hengler, Sanger; Francini, Sarrasani,
Dibdin, Pépin, Ricketts; Barnum and Grimaldi.
Barnum & Bailey poster
London, Paris, Berlin, Turin. The punters under canvas,
Travelling shows to dustbowl west, New York to Texas, Kansas.
Before the age of internet, before the time of the TV,
Trading on the novelty of sexy magic, skill and mystery.
HBO series: Carnivàle
To grab your fast attention, snatch in the trapeze,
As sugar, circus culture’s made to dazzle and to tease,
Like candy floss on tongue, there’s something odd in how it’s spun,
Tastes sweet yet strangely melts with a wrung-out, wrong-ish sort of fun.
It's a rush of titillation, wild nights and skills and sights!
Lions, tigers, elephants! But … dodgy performance rights.
Smiles and hidden tragedies written on tight cheeks,
Clowns' slap-happy parodies and armies of strange ‘freaks’.
Just ask Toby …
The circus has a history of oddness and of beauty,
Extraordinary talent, but also shocking cruelty.
It's hard to watch, yet look away. A culture that's quite tricky,
A haven for the outcasts, but also often un-PC.
Meet Toby, The Sapient Pig! He reads, counts, tells your destiny!
Dancing Dogs, Le Chien Pendule, and further porcine prophesy!
The Tightrope Mule, the Gold Chain Fleas, the ball-walk, ballet Elephant!
Marocco the Thinking Horse, of course. So elegant and eloquent!
The Singing Mouse, the Gavotte Goose, the Feline Orchestra!
Dolphins, Seals and Cockatoos, Wise Monkey as an Aide-Memoire!
Lions, tigers, (bears), oh my. Tamers? Trainers? Don't ask why.
Siberians are no toy. They swiped a swift goodbye to Siegfried & Roy.
Lion tamer 1873
Siegfried & Roy and friend
The circus brings to town of course a crowd of human 'freaks',
Illusionists, mind-readers, with slick and dangerous skills, techniques.
Self-dislocating oddballs, like Barnum's great LaRoche, whose oeuvre's
A human ball, rolls up a slope – une sphère mystérieuse!
LaRoche, the human rolling ball …
A hit? Unthan, the armless marksman! But few can quite compare,
To musician, painter, entertainer, than tiny Matthias Buchinger,
No arms or legs, but torso, 'fins', with amazing skill
In all the arts. And as lover, a legend for the (ahem) ladies' thrill ...
Matthias Buchinger: no limbs but many skills …
So many more - the pig-faced, fish-shaped, bearded lady,
Dwarfs and giants, from beastly to beautiful, ugly to shady,
Daredevils, bullet-dodgers, fire-proof persons of inflammatory note,
Consuming fire, and glass and stone. John the Human Goat.
It's time to turn this show to the road sign of the song,
On circus famous or obscure, performance right or wrong.
Capture sights and sounds, the magic and the spectacle,
As focus of the song itself, in sounds as well as lyrical.
Led by donkeys …
So then, please place your song suggestions about circuses (also known carnivals in the US) in comments below. But just to confirm our emphasis is on the culture around big-top performance rather than fairground rides. This week’s ringmaster whipping them into shape is the excellent Loud Atlas! Deadline for final tickets is this coming Monday at 11pm UK time, for playlists published next week. Roll up, and come on down …
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