Once I was happy but now I'm forlorn Like an old coat that is tattered and torn Left in this wide world to weep and to mourn Betrayed by a maid in her teens Oh, this maid that I loved she was handsome And I tried all I knew, her to please But I never could please her one quarter so well As the man on the flying trapeze!
He floats thro' the air with the greatest of ease The daring young man on the flying trapeze His actions are graceful, all girls he does please And my love he has stolen away
He'd play with a miss like a cat with a mouse His eyes would undress ev'ry maid in the house Perhaps he is better described as a louse But still people came just the same He'd smile on the bar to the people below And one night he smiled on my love She blew him a kiss and she hollered "Bravo"! As he hung by his nose up above!
He floats thro' the air with the greatest of ease The daring young man on the flying trapeze His actions are graceful, all girls he does please And my love he has stolen away
I wept and I whimpered I simpered for weeks While she spent her time the with the circuses freaks The tears were like hailstones that rolled down my cheeks Alas and alack and Alaska I went to this fellow the blackguard and said I'll see that you get your deserts His thumb to his nose he put up with a sneer He sneered once again and said "Nortz" Oh!
He floats thro' the air with the greatest of ease The daring young man on the flying trapeze His actions are graceful, all girls he does please And my love he has stolen away
One night to his tent he invited her in Filled her with compliments and kisses and gin That started her off on the road to ruin She made the supreme sacrifice But even tho' I loved her I said "Take my name I'll gladly forgive and forget!" She rustled her bustle and then without shame she said "Maybe later , not yet"! Oh!
He floats thro' the air with the greatest of ease The daring young man on the flying trapeze His actions are graceful, all girls he does please And my love he has stolen away
One night I as usual went to her dear home Found there her father and mother alone I asked for my love and soon t'was made known To my horror that she'd run away Without any trousseau she fled in the night With him with the greatest of ease From two stories high he had lowered her down To the ground on his flying trapeze!
He floats through the air with the greatest of ease The daring young man on the flying trapeze His actions are graceful, all girls he does please And my love he has stolen away
Some months after that I went into the hall To my surprise I found there on the wall A bill in red letters which did my heart gall That she was appearing with him He'd taught her gymnastics and dressed her in tights To help him to live at his ease He'd made her assume a masculine name And now she goes on the trapeze!
She floats through the air with the greatest of ease You'd think her a man on the flying trapeze Her actions are graceful, all girls she does please And that's what's become of my love