The Flying Wallendas

Album: The Big To-Do (2010)
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  • And they fell from the skies with the greatest of ease
    And they landed on the ground under tents and trapeze
    And they were told that they fell with such beauty and grace
    That the Flying Wallendas would be the name on their case

    And the fine folks of Akron would forever be saying
    That they flew through the air like the wings of a prayer
    But they all walked away amidst the gawking and stares
    And the children revisited their fall in nightmares
    But they never would stop and they never surrendered
    And they lived like they died, the Flying Wallendas

    They could dance on the wire through the fire and the storm
    John Ringling had seen Karl in Cuba perform
    He raised up his kids for performance and stardom
    They performed center ring at Madison Square Garden
    With a seven-man pyramid folks lined up just to see 'em
    Till they fell from the sky at Detroit's State Fair Coliseum

    And they fell to the ground with the greatest of ease
    Three didn't get up from the blood in the breeze
    But Karl wouldn't be stopped from his home in the skies
    Till he fell from the wire in San Juan and he died

    In Sarasota as a child my grandparents lived next door
    To the surviving Wallendas and their amazing wild stories
    I was stunned and astounded that the old lady who was out
    Pruning her orange trees had flown to the heavens and back Writer/s: PATTERSON HOOD
    Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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