Lawrence Ferlinghetti was a chronicler of the Beat Generation. He saw himself as the last of the Bohemians in San Francisco. He was a poet whose collection of poetry called, "Coney Island of the Mind" inspired me to write this homage.
Lyrics
Ferlinghetti Fair...music and lyrics by John Jump. All instruments and vocals performed by John Jump
When the circus rolls around
When they set up the tents downtown
See the tigers and the bears
Men on trapeze in the air
When the circus rolls around
There’ll be sawdust on the ground
Emmit Kelly will be laughing at the clowns
See the fat lady sing
While the tigers jump through rings
When the circus comes rolls around
Chorus:
Won’t you take me there
I’ve been lookin’ for a ride to the Ferlinghetti Fair
I know you got a ticket won’t you take me along
So long gone, boys, he’s done gone on
From the Ferris Wheels back home
You can parts of Asia, parts of Rome
Ooh, and the cotton candy queens in the neon night scenes
Puttin’ spare change into telephones
Now the poets on the street
Always dancin’ to that elusive beat
And the music in the air from the Ferlinghetti Fair
Is a song they hear with their feet
Chorus:
Won’t you take me there
I’ve been lookin’ for a ride to the Ferlinghetti Fair
I know you got a ticket won’t you take me along
So long gone, boys, he’s done gone on
In the midway mall of life
Night and day become man and wife
And the comrade standing there has vanished in the air
Words cut him deep like a knife
When the circus rolls around
all this concrete will tumble down
And the cities that were there
Peking and Moscow’s Red Square
They will all come downtown
Chorus:
Won’t you take me there
I’ve been lookin’ for a ride to the Ferlinghetti Fair
I know you got a ticket won’t you take me along
So long gone, boys, he’s done gone on