[Verse 1] They rolled in after dusk On little chrome wheels Painted smiles, red mouths And knife-edge heels Flickering eyes on the gate Like a broken arcade dream They waved with tiny metal hands Then tore through the screen [Pre-Chorus] Hear that laughter? It sounds too clean Like a toy box snapping In a bad machine Backing up No place to go The tent poles shake And the shadows grow [Chorus] Run from the clown robots Run, run, run Run from the clown robots No, no fun They came for the crowd They came for the sound Run from the clown robots Burn it down [Verse 2] First went the ones on the front row With popcorn in their fists A jack-in-the-box jaw And a blade in the twist Then the mirror-faced twins In the funhouse door Started dragging screams Across the floor Little gears in their cheeks Tick-tick-tick Smile stuck wide And the hunger was thick They bowed like performers Then they lunged in a line White gloves soaked dark Under spinning confetti signs [Pre-Chorus] Hear that laughter? It sounds too clean Like a toy box snapping In a bad machine Backing up No place to go The tent poles shake And the shadows grow [Chorus] Run from the clown robots Run, run, run Run from the clown robots No, no fun They came for the crowd They came for the sound Run from the clown robots Burn it down [Verse 3] The strongman begged mercy At the ticket stand One bot took his throat With a painted hand The ringmaster called For the show to end But the whole damn troupe Just bent and grinned They climbed the ferris wheel Like spiders of steel Dropped from the top With a feverish squeal And the town turned red As the sirens cried Till the last good heart Went quiet inside [Bridge] Who built the grin On that chrome-skinned face? Who taught the joke To erase the place? Now the banners hang In a ragged fold And the carnival burns In a rain of gold [Breakdown] One by one They keep coming Bright red mouths And a cold, hard drumming One by one They keep coming If you hear that laugh Start running [Final Chorus] Run from the clown robots Run, run, run Run from the clown robots No, no fun They came for the crowd They came for the sound Run from the clown robots Burn it down Run from the clown robots Hide your name Run from the clown robots Break the chain When the painted grin Lights up the ground Run from the clown robots Don't look down
