[00:00.35]The Clown - Charles Mingus
[00:20.18]Man, there was this clown,
[00:24.16]And he was a real happy guy, a real happy guy
[00:29.57]He had all these greens and all these yellows and all
[00:32.36]These oranges bubbling around inside of him.
[00:35.77]And he had just one thing he wanted in this world,
[00:39.21]He just wanted to make people laugh,
[00:41.39]That's all he wanted out of this world,
[00:44.12]We was a real happy guy
[01:08.55]Let me tell you about this clown,
[01:12.13]He used to a raise a sweat every night
[01:13.70]Out on the stage and just wouldn't stop,
[01:16.83]That's how hard he worked,
[01:19.15]He was trying to make people laugh.
[01:22.41]He used to have this cute little gimmick
[01:23.75]Where he had a seal follow him up and down a step-ladder,
[01:27.05]Blowing Columbia the gem of the ocean out on a b-flat scale
[01:29.36]Sears-roebuck a model thirteen twenty-two A plastic bugle,
[01:32.76]A real cute act, but they didn't laugh,
[01:38.41]Well you know, a few little things here and there,
[01:41.11]But not really, and he was booking out in all these tank towns,
[01:46.51]Playing the rotary clubs, the Kiwanis clubs and the American legion hall;
[01:51.78]And he just wasn't making it,
[01:54.04]But he had all these wonderful things going on inside of him,
[01:56.20]All these greens and yellows and all these oranges,
[01:58.79]He was a real happy guy,
[02:00.61]And all he wanted to do was to make these people laugh,
[02:02.65]That's all he wanted out of this world,
[02:04.06]To make people laugh, and then something began to grow,
[02:08.67]Something that just wasn't good began growing
[02:10.69]Inside of his head
[03:05.24]You know, it's a funny thing.
[03:12.28]Something began to trouble this clown,
[03:15.63]You know little things, little things once in a while would happen,
[03:20.23]That would make that crowed begin to howl,
[03:22.44]But they were never the right things,
[03:24.72]Like for example the time the seal got sick on the stage,
[03:27.87]All over the stage, the crowd just,
[03:29.49]Just broke out, little things like that.
[03:32.08]And they weren't suppose to
[03:33.35]They weren't supposed to be funny.
[03:37.23]This began to trouble him, and it bothered him.
[03:39.40]And this little thing began to grow inside of him.
[03:42.86]And all those greens and all those oranges and all those yellows,
[03:47.69]They just weren't as bright as they used to be.
[03:50.46]And all he wanted to do was to make that crowd laugh,
[03:52.85]That's all he wanted to do
[03:55.60]There was this one night
[03:56.49]When he was playing at the rotary club.
[03:59.45]All these dentists, all these druggists,
[04:02.79]All these postmen sitting around,
[04:04.74]And they were a real cold bunch, nothing was happening.
[04:08.61]He was leaving the stage when he stumbled over his ladder
[04:11.69]And fell flat on his face, just flat on his face.
[04:18.55]When he stands up and he's got this bloody nose
[04:21.77]And he looks out at the crowd
[04:22.89]And that crowd is just rolling on the floor,
[04:25.24]He's just knocked them flat out,
[04:29.38]This begins to trouble and even more.
[04:31.72]He begins to see something, he begins to see something
[08:47.20]And right about here is when things began to change,
[08:50.50]But really change.
[08:54.00]Not the least of which our clown changes his act.
[08:57.13]He bought himself a set of football pads,
[09:00.14]A yellow helmet with red stripes,
[09:04.19]Hired a girl who dropped a 5-pound sac
[09:06.45]Of flour on his head every night,
[09:08.28]Maybe twenty feet up. Oh man, what a pit,
[09:10.37]That just broke them up every night,
[09:12.48]But not like the buke.
[09:16.87]And all those colors,
[09:18.05]All those yellows, all those reds, all those oranges,
[09:23.10]A lot of gray in them now
[09:24.51]Not blue
[09:25.49]And all he wanted was to make this crowd laugh,
[09:28.15]That's all he wanted out of this world
[09:31.58]They were laughing alright,
[09:34.35]Not like the buke but they were laughing,
[09:37.58]And all the dough started coming in.
[09:39.11]He was playing the big towns.
[09:41.04]Chicago, Detroit, and then it was Pittsburgh one night
[09:45.55]A real fine town Pittsburgh, you know.
[09:49.89]But three quarters way through his act, a rope broke,
[09:53.48]Down came the backdrop, right on the back of the neck,
[09:57.48]And he went flat and something broke, this was it.
[10:08.41]It hurt way down deep inside, he tried to get up.
[10:12.76]He looked out at the audience,
[10:14.40]And you should've, man, you should've,
[10:16.15]You should've seen that crowd.
[10:18.84]They was rolling in the aisle.
[10:22.45]This was bigger than the buke.
[10:24.54]This was bigger than the buke
[10:29.30]He really had them going,
[10:33.12]This was it, this was the last one,
[10:37.20]This was the last one. This was the last one.
[10:52.89]He knew now, man, he really knew now.
[11:00.96]But it was too late
[11:03.10]And all he had wanted was to make this crowd laugh,
[11:04.91]Well they were laughing, But now he knew.
[11:13.99]That was the end of the clown.
[11:17.85]And you should have seen the bookings coming.
[11:21.03]Man, his agent was on the phone for 24 hours,
[11:25.61]The Palladium, MCA, William Morris. But it was too late
[11:38.36]He really knew now.
[11:40.22]He really knew.
[11:52.87]He really knew now.
[12:01.78]William Morris sent regrets