Intro: verse 1: Lights are bright in the circus The geeks and the freaks all light cigarettes and laugh at your misery While the weight of the curtain closing crushes your heart The inertia of loneliness tears your flesh apart It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide Down Once the neon is gone There’s still that golden splinter at your side His manners are charming but who are you fooling? You are still nobody’s bride And Bukowski’s widow haunts each empty seat on the ferris wheel As ghoulish lovers collide in a collage of kisses that they steal It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide Down   -    -     -    -     -    -     -    -   And outside the window the circus crackles and lurches with rings of smoke You laugh halfheartedly at the punchline not realizing they’ve made you the joke And inside my heart a war is raging in regions still untamed The worst fear I can imagine is for the mystery to be named Is for the mystery to be named It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide It’s a long slow slide Down