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Circus Tent

from A Bit of Change by Edward St Moritz

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about

The Pittsburg massacre at Tree of Life synagogue sprayed over the news. And then, again with the killings in the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The song is an attempt at understanding the seeds and the ground in which this hatred and fear grow, and its result, with maybe, just maybe, a little hope at the end. I owe a great deal to the late French chansonnier Georges Brassens for the stylings of this one.

lyrics

Circus Tent

There’s a smell in the air of the old circus tent
You think it is mould but you gag from the scent
of the festering crowds who don’t notice at all
They’re used to the stink It’s been here since the fall Of our town.

When you first came in It dazzled like wine
lights camera distraction right movement in time
You swam in the swell you shouted so proud
In this terrible safety No thinking allowed In our town

Civility’s remnants vanish in lies
of the ringmaster’s mouth
And the mob’s ringing cries
When you breathe in the hate of that fiery flood
Do you see the bodies? Do you taste the blood?

You crave to belong you risk all the loss
Of yourself to the clan Or the tribe or the boss
They brand you with words First weapons of choice
to bulleted points you take your dead voice Going down.

our neighbours’ remains vanish in lies
of the ringmaster’s mouth and the mob’s ringing cries
you breathe in the hate of that fiery flood
(Yiddish) Du zest di harugim, un [you see the bodies]
bist toyem dos blut [and you taste the blood]

Christchurch now weeps With Sandy Hook school
With Charlotteville, Pittsburgh, Quebec City, too
Too many others The fear does not cease
And words comfort less In a hard search for peace

There’s a smell in the air Of that old circus tent
centuries of shattered innocents sent
to the limb of the tree,bits of flesh on the wall…
from the back of our memory we need to call back our home

Humanity’s vestiges laid in the dark
Shut the ringmaster’s mouth Search for that faint spark
Don’t breathe in the hate of the fiery flood
Remember the bodies Remember the blood
Remember the bodies Remember the blood
Remember the bodies
Remember…

credits

from A Bit of Change, released April 30, 2020

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Edward St Moritz Barrie, Ontario

Ed lives in Collingwood Ontario.

He and Don Bray produced his first CD of original songs Small Things Shining Bright and has just completed a second project A Bit of Change with Ray Dillard.

Why a darkside navigator?
“I am responsible for the directions I take in those gray territories. I do go into depression, but I also know how to sail through it. My songs are the maps of experience there.” ... more

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