She'll fix you with an iron cross    And cover you up with petals    And hang you up with some amber beads    And four or five precious metals    And in that black flamingo chair    You'll sit among her trophies    And pray to be abandoned    Till you don't know what hope is       But there's one thing that I had to keep inside    Because I was shaking    Why don't you get some pride    There was a clown strike    And the clowns threw down their tools    But you don't have to play so hard    And I'm nobody's fool    You don't have to go so far    'Cause I love you as you are       The big top is deserted now    And the circus girl rehearses    She knows how to turn their heads    And not fall between two horses    But all that seems a simple step    If only I were able    To love you like I want to do    And not by some times table       But there's one thing that I had to keep inside    Because I was shaking    Why don't you get some pride    There was a clown strike    And the clowns threw down their tools    But you don't have to play so hard    And I'm nobody's fool    You don't have to go so far    'Cause I love you as you are       And it's pandemonium    For the humble and the mighty    You don't have to tumble for me    Even a clown knows when to strike       Tell me what you want of me    Or are you terrified of failure?    You put on a superstitious face    Behind all this paraphernalia    We're not living in a masquerade    Where you only have three wishes    It isn't easy to see    In a lifetime of mistaken kisses       But there's one thing that I had to keep inside    Because I was shaking    Why don't you get some pride    There was a clown strike    And the clowns threw down their tools    But you don't have to play so hard    And I'm nobody's fool    You don't have to go so far    'Cause I love you as you are       In this pandemonium    For the humble and the mighty    You don't have to tumble for me    Even a clown knows when to strike