Roustabouts
Roustabouts
General information
Feature films
Albums
Composer
Lyrics
Performers
Video
Lyrics[]
Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike!
We work all day, we work all night
We never learned to read or write
We're happy-hearted roustabouts
Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike!
We're other folks have gone to bed
We slave until we're almost dead
We're happy-hearted roustabouts
Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike!
We don't know when we get our pay
And when we do, we throw our pay away
(When we get our pay, we throw our money all away)
We get our pay when children say
With happy hearts, "It's circus day today"
(Then we get our pay, just watching kids on circus day)
Muscles achin'
Back near breaking
Eggs and bacon what we need (Yes, sir!)
Boss man houndin'
Keep on poundin'
For your bed and feed
There ain't no let up
Must get set up
Pull that canvas! Drive that stake!
Want to doze off
Get them clothes off
But must keep awake
Hep! Heave! Hep! Heave! Hep! Heave!
Hep! Heave! Hep! Heave! Hep! Heave!
Hep! Heave! Hep!
Swing that sledge! Sing that song!
Work and laugh the whole night long
You happy-hearted roustabouts!
Pullin', poundin', tryin', groundin'
Big top roundin' into shape
Keep on working!
Stop that shirking!
Grab that rope, you hairy ape!
Poundin', poundin', poundin', poundin', poundin'!
Trivia[]
- The depiction of most of the "roustabouts" as African-American, while faithfully depicting a reality of that time and exposing and establishing the cruelty of theRingmaster, has recently sparked controversy.
- Apparently, not all the roustabouts during the dramatic musical sequence are African-Americans, like the ones hammering the stakes, some positioning the tent of the circus from the top of it suggest to be white, while the others are literally pitch-black just to keep them anonymous and shadowy human characters kept in the dark during the ferocious storm at night.
- In older dubs of the movie, like the Italian one, the song was left in English. This was possibly due to the song being described as racially controversial.
- The songFrozen Heart fromFrozen is said fromJennifer Lee to be a tribute to this song.
