[00:00:00] The Clown - Charles Mingus [00:00:20] Man there was this clown [00:00:24] And he was a real happy guy a real happy guy [00:00:29] He had all these greens and all these yellows and all [00:00:32] These oranges bubbling around inside of him [00:00:35] And he had just one thing he wanted in this world [00:00:39] He just wanted to make people laugh [00:00:41] That's all he wanted out of this world [00:00:44] We was a real happy guy [00:01:08] Let me tell you about this clown [00:01:12] He used to a raise a sweat every night [00:01:13] Out on the stage and just wouldn't stop [00:01:16] That's how hard he worked [00:01:19] He was trying to make people laugh [00:01:22] He used to have this cute little gimmick [00:01:23] Where he had a seal follow him up and down a step-ladder [00:01:27] Blowing Columbia the gem of the ocean out on a b-flat scale [00:01:29] Sears-roebuck a model thirteen twenty-two A plastic bugle [00:01:32] A real cute act but they didn't laugh [00:01:38] Well you know a few little things here and there [00:01:41] But not really and he was booking out in all these tank towns [00:01:46] Playing the rotary clubs the Kiwanis clubs and the American legion hall; [00:01:51] And he just wasn't making it [00:01:54] But he had all these wonderful things going on inside of him [00:01:56] All these greens and yellows and all these oranges [00:01:58] He was a real happy guy [00:02:00] And all he wanted to do was to make these people laugh [00:02:02] That's all he wanted out of this world [00:02:04] To make people laugh and then something began to grow [00:02:08] Something that just wasn't good began growing [00:02:10] Inside of his head [00:03:05] You know it's a funny thing [00:03:12] Something began to trouble this clown [00:03:15] You know little things little things once in a while would happen [00:03:20] That would make that crowed begin to howl [00:03:22] But they were never the right things [00:03:24] Like for example the time the seal got sick on the stage [00:03:27] All over the stage the crowd just [00:03:29] Just broke out little things like that [00:03:32] And they weren't suppose to [00:03:33] They weren't supposed to be funny [00:03:37] This began to trouble him and it bothered him [00:03:39] And this little thing began to grow inside of him [00:03:42] And all those greens and all those oranges and all those yellows [00:03:47] They just weren't as bright as they used to be [00:03:50] And all he wanted to do was to make that crowd laugh [00:03:52] That's all he wanted to do [00:03:55] There was this one night [00:03:56] When he was playing at the rotary club [00:03:59] All these dentists all these druggists [00:04:02] All these postmen sitting around [00:04:04] And they were a real cold bunch nothing was happening [00:04:08] He was leaving the stage when he stumbled over his ladder [00:04:11] And fell flat on his face just flat on his face [00:04:18] When he stands up and he's got this bloody nose [00:04:21] And he looks out at the crowd [00:04:22] And that crowd is just rolling on the floor [00:04:25] He's just knocked them flat out [00:04:29] This begins to trouble and even more [00:04:31] He begins to see something he begins to see something [00:08:47] And right about here is when things began to change [00:08:50] But really change [00:08:54] Not the least of which our clown changes his act [00:08:57] He bought himself a set of football pads [00:09:00] A yellow helmet with red stripes [00:09:04] Hired a girl who dropped a 5-pound sac [00:09:06] Of flour on his head every night [00:09:08] Maybe twenty feet up Oh man what a pit [00:09:10] That just broke them up every night [00:09:12] But not like the buke [00:09:16] And all those colors [00:09:18] All those yellows all those reds all those oranges [00:09:23] A lot of gray in them now [00:09:24] Not blue [00:09:25] And all he wanted was to make this crowd laugh [00:09:28] That's all he wanted out of this world [00:09:31] They were laughing alright [00:09:34] Not like the buke but they were laughing