CREEPTAL - Clowns on Power

THE END IS SO NEAR [Intro — distant calliope, classic circus clown music, children’s choir, bells] [Circus clown melody plays, warped and slowly swallowed by distorted guitar] Ha-ha-ha-ha... Ladies and gentlemen, come closer to the flame The tent is getting taller while the faces stay the same Red flags, black banners, painted smiles beneath the light Every fool is picking sides and every side demands a fight [Verse I] The ringmaster whispers while the audience divides Half the crowd is laughing Half is sharpening knives A clown climbs up the ladder with a hammer in his hand He makes a joke of suffering and calls it taking a stand He paints the dead with colors He laughs beneath the rain He turns another human wound into a carnival refrain Golden rain upon the canvas as the laughing clowns parade Every drop becomes a spectacle every corpse another trade And somewhere in the darkness someone applauds the show When hatred fills the cheap seats the empty seats begin to grow [Pre-Chorus] Round and round the dark horses run Round and round the loaded gun Every scream becomes applause Every wound becomes a cause [Chorus — full choir] Oh, dear The end is so near When we cheer for every fear Till we cannot hear The other side anymore! Oh, dear The end is so near The clown is drawing nearer And the Violator Is knocking at the door! [Verse II] Then comes the Violator in a coat of crimson gold He promises a kingdom where the weak are bought and sold He feeds the ring with fire and calls the ashes peace He turns the blood of strangers into numbers on a screen His jokes are made of sirens His banners made of rage He tears the pages from the book and calls the wreckage change And every tribe is certain that their enemy's to blame While someone in the shadows is collecting from the game [Pre-Chorus II] Round and round the dark horses run Round and round the setting sun When the monster leaves the cage someone else will build the stage [Chorus] Oh, dear The end is so near When we cheer for every fear Till we cannot hear The other side anymore! Oh, dear The end is so near The clown is drawing nearer And the Violator Is knocking at the door! [Bridge — slower, War Pigs-like] And I bet there are rich folks eating in a fancy dining car While the circus burns below them beneath a sky of falling stars They're drinking coffee smoking big cigars Watching little flags collide from behind their golden bars They never bought the bullets They never fired the gun They only sold the uniforms and counted what they'd won [Instrumental — galloping guitars / organ / circus orchestra] Clowns on power! Clowns on power! The jester wears the crown The butcher wears the smile The crowd keeps screaming louder while the graveyard grows a mile Clowns on power! Clowns on power! Golden rain upon the ring! Hear the carnival bells all sing! Who opened up the gate? Who taught the dogs to hate? Who sold the poison and called it fate? [Operatic middle section — female voice] Hush now, little kingdom the painted horses know The music never changes when the bodies start to show [Male choir] Dies Irae! Dies Irae! [Female lead] The mirror cracks in seven The jester loses face And every side discovers there is nowhere left to place the blame... [Final Chorus — accelerated] Oh, dear The end is so near Can you still recognize the faces that you fear? Oh, dear The end is so near When every scream becomes a cheer And every stranger disappears Anymore! ANYMORE! Oh, dear! The end is so near! The circus has no master when the audience is here! Oh, dear! The end is so near! No clown, no king, no Violator can rule the ashes anymore! [Outro — the same circus clown melody returns, badly detuned and slowed] The lights go out. The horses stop. The painted curtain falls. Ha-ha-ha-ha... And somewhere underneath the stage... Someone is still laughing. [Calliope collapses into a single distorted guitar note]