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Live 26 Apr 2006 version
[Spoken intro:] Oh yeah. Yes indeed. I wanna thank you once again for coming out. We are leaving here, a well-oiled, fine-tuned killing machine, ready to take on an unsuspecting world. Come on down, horns, everybody join us out front here. We've got the glockenspiel, that's what we need, man. Oh, wonderful.
Yeah once I was happy, but now I'm forlorn
Like an old coat that's tattered and torn
Left on this world to fret and to mourn
Betrayed by a maid barely out of her teens
The girl that I loved she was handsome
And I tried all I knew her to please
But I just couldn't please her a quarter as well
As the man upon the trapeze
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please
And my love he's stolen away
Now the young man by name was Signor Bona Slang
He was tall, big and handsome, as well made as Chang -- whoever that is
Wherever he appeared the hall loudly rang
With ovations from all people there
He'd smile from the bar on the people below
And one night he smiled on my love
She winked back at him and she shouted "Bravo!"
As he hung by his nose from above
Her father and mother they were both on my side
And very hard they tried to make her my bride
Her father he sighed and her mother she cried
To see her throw herself away
But it was all no avail, she went there every night
And she throw him bouquets on the stage
It caused him to meet her and how he ran me down
To tell you would take a whole fuckin' page
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please
And my love he's stolen away
Solo!
Well one night as usual, well I went to her home
And I found there her father and her mother alone
I asked for my love and soon they made known
To my horror that she'd run away
She packed up her boxes, she eloped in the night
With him with the greatest of ease
From her bedroom two stories high, he'd lowered her down
To the ground on that fuckin' trapeze
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please
And my love he's stolen away
Well some months after this I went to Circus Hall
Now I was greatly surprised to see her there on the wall
A bill with big red letters, my heart did gall
As she was now appearing with him
He'd taught her gymnastics and he dressed her in tights
Just to help him live a life of ease
As I stood there staring up into the lights
There she flew on that flying trapeze
She flies through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young girl on the flying trapeze
She does all his work while he takes his ease
And my love he's stolen away
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please
And my love he's stolen away
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please
And my love he's stolen away
THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE is a 19th-century popular song first published in 1867. See the original version for more details.
The above lyrics are for the live 26 Apr 2006 performance of THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, during a public rehearsal show for The Seeger Sessions Tour.
In preparation for The Seeger Sessions Tour, THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE was performed during one of the tour's four public warm-up rehearsal shows that took place in April 2006 in Asbury Park. The song is also known to have been practiced during at least one of the private rehearsals that took place in Mar-Apr 2006 in Asbury Park prior to the tour's first leg.
THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE was performed twice during The Seeger Sessions Tour (56 dates, April to November 2006).
List of available versions of THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE on this website:
THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE [Live 26 Apr 2006 version]