All Comedians Suffer
Neil Finn
Let’s get started
I still dream of
A bright future
The white lemon
The ballerina
She’s still smoking
The weightlifter
I’m not joking
You know inside
All comedians suffer
On the outside
Try so hard to look tougher
But there’s a cost
When you radiate sunshine
And dreams get lost, ohh
The walls shaking
The low ceiling
The punch coming
The nerve ending
The dry swallow
My heart sinking
The doors open
Everyone is looking
But I don’t mind
‘Cause all comedians suffer
On the outside
Try so hard to look tougher
But there’s a cost
When you radiate sunshine
And dreams get lost
And keys get left on the counter
Something only I can see
When you’re coming back to me
All the feelings that I had
Hard for you to understand
Never knowing what comes up
Guess I could be the only one
That’s hearing lies
And knowing how to take it
And you know what the funny thing is
Until he brings you back
Until he makes you high
And when someone is special
Did you even know what it was
And we all got it wrong
And you laugh as he pulls his gun
The people in the aisles are rolling
And you keep yourself dry and happy
Ohh, ohh
Song appears on:
7 Worlds Collide - The Sun Came Out (2CD album, 2009)
“I had the chorus of ‘All Comedians Suffer’ before the sessions, as well as some of the verse. The rest of the verse was pieced together during the sessions, and the end section was a big, sprawling jam that we added after we found this very cool riff for the outro. The main gist of the song is the very simple notion that there is often darkness attached to people who are funny. I have known people like that in my life in very obvious ways. Paul Hester was a classic example of someone who was the funniest person I have ever known and who created so much joy for people, but really had a very troubled soul underneath it. ”