Her communique arrived with it's expression of her feeling I swear I had no idea she'd been holding and concealing Such a storm of words unsaid That absurd as it appears Had been blowing in her head For twenty-seven years I knew I had to face her so I grabbed my Davy Crocket Threw a scarf around my neck And twenty Dollars in my pocket I found her in the same old place Pamphlet in her fist When I saw her windblown face She said \"Well, look at who it is\"
Meet me on the mad parade When the midnight bells are chiming We'll dress up as the harlequin and the clown Pile up all the wonders that we've made In a tower too tall for climbing And we'll burn the damn thing down
In the grey November light she was older, still alluring Her hair grey and longer than it ever had been during The days we loved and slept In her bed of faded wood In the little place she kept In a crumbling neighbourhood We walked along a while Like we were old companions But I could feel the gulf between us Yawning like a canyon She with her church and code Her extravagant beliefs Me a creature of the road A child of dust and grief
Meet me on the mad parade When the midnight bells are chiming We'll dress up as the harlequin and the clown Pile up all the wonders that we've made In a tower too tall for climbing And we'll burn the damn thing down
She smoked a cigarette and blew smoke rings at the ceiling Said \"if your problem is long standing man Then why don't you try kneeling?\" Now your face I see you're still a sinner in the mist Setting up your little will As king in place of His I said \"I've heard about sin Down the long wheels of ages A cracked books of lies With a thousand twisted pages\" Then I looked her in the eye And asked her clear and plain \"If your religion was a lie Then what would remain?\"
She said \"I've got my beating heart And I've two loving hands to heal with And there's nothing in my day that I ain't got the strength to deal with\" I said \"Darling I confess The same applies to me\" And as for all the rest We agreed to disagree
Meet me on the mad parade When the midnight bells are chiming We'll dress up as the harlequin and the clown Pile up all the wonders that we've made In a tower too tall for climbing And we'll burn the damn thing down Yes we'll burn the damn thing down