Place, Everybody (King of Spades)

Come now, we’re all backstage
Pacing slowly
Waitin’ for showtime

Admission: one dollar
It’s a value
That’s become my life

Places, Everybody
Let’s do this one more time
Our magician readies rabbit
And the poet runs her lines
Places, everybody

Showtime
Curtains rise up
Spotlight finds me
It’s a real good crowd

With a gesture, I invite them
Into our world
Where their troubles fly by

Places, Everybody
Let’s do this one more time
The freak act approaches stage left
And the satirist ain’t far behind
Places, everybody

Don’t stop: Cue the jugglers
Give ‘em burlesque
Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry

The escape act gets chained up
Dropped in water
And then time stands still

[beat]

Places, everybody
Let’s do this one more time
The crowds don’t come like they used to
And then the talkies took our lines
So, places, everybody

There’s a ghost light
Deep in my mind
A hopeful beacon
That I can never turn off

And if you stare into my eyes
You might see it
And you might feel hopeful too

Places, everybody
The curtain’s coming down
Tomorrow’s they’ll start to bulldoze
The last great show in town

Places, everybody
We’ll all land on our feet
It’s a big world full of love and hate
And you can never admit defeat
So, places, everybody

Encore, they cry encore
But it’s the curtain call
Where we all take a bow

Hand in hand, we’re a family
On the cusp of
The great unknown