It seems we're all in for a treat
Staring up, out of the street
And you can tell that Joe is really glad he came
Though downwind of him trails
A fog of alcohol
He fails
To do his best to be indifferent
All the same
Cause there ain't no shaking the smell
Like there ain't no shaking the spell
As Blondin, Wirewalker
Braves the screams
Well, Joe is
Obvious impressed
Though he has something to confess
Above the sound of ten thousand creaking
Necks all craned
Joe says
"Alone amongst the beasts and freaks
I dreamed of tightrope walking
While I tended Blondin's
Percherons and trailers
I'd see him
Training in the evening
There was no point trying to speak
You see, I doubted that he'd have
Time for the strangers
Who'd be there hoisting his big tents
Who'd be spying him from their naves
Staring down at them
Like batsh** in a cave
Well, we hardly even met, but see
I worked for him, I thought I'd
Fill the space he left
But no, I was naive
Just another sideshow slow, I thought
He knew something I don't
But it would seem, all these Wirewalkers have
Is just the means to make you feel so bad
Man, no one
Cared for him at all
Until he crossed Niagara Falls
So you'd all feel
A little lower down the scale
And then his fame shot straight and fast
Right through a gloomy, narrow pa**
He chanced through darkness, lightning storms
And into day
But I ain't here because he's tall
I'm only here to see him fall
If I get on the wagon now
It'll only be to run him down"
It seems we're
All in for a treat
Staring up out of the street
And you can smell that Joe's been drinking
On his breath
And then the clouds part overhead
And I make out a silhouette
As though I'm staring up through a trapdoor
And I'm waiting to be fed