A universal acknowledgment that clowns suck is one of the more remarkable developments in my lifetime. My pediatrician had a chalk drawing of one of those motherfuckers holding an umbrella. To use clowns as a conceit is to acknowledge in this life you’re on your own while insisting on smiling.
The list:
1. Bruce Springsteen – Wild Billy’s Circus Story
2. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles – The Tears of a Clown
3. The Beatles – Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
4. XTC – Dear Madam Barnum
5. Britney Spears – Circus
6. Drive-By Truckers – The Flying Wallendas
7. The Everly Brothers – Cathy’s Clown
8. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – The Carny
9. Tom Waits – Circus
10. Elvis Costello & the Attractions – Clowntime is Over
11. Randy Newman – Davy The Fat Boy
12. Dwight Yoakam – Pocket of a Clown
13. The Replacements – Lay it Down Clown
14. The Magnetic Fields – I Looked All Over Town
15. Moe Bandy – Bandy the Rodeo Clown
16. The Lounge Lizards – My Clown’s On Fire
17. Goldfrapp – Clowns
18. Roy Orbison – In Dreams
19. Emeli Sandé – Clowns
20. Judy Collins – Send In The Clowns
21. The Kinks – Death of a Clown
22. Ron Sexsmith – Clown in Broad Daylight
23. Toby Keith – She Ran Away with a Rodeo Clown
24. Manfred Mann – Ha! Ha! Said The Clown
25. Kathy Mattea – Clown in Your Rodeo
Humanizing The Vacuum 
Too Much Joy – Clowns
The first song that comes to mind on the topic is one of my favorite King Crimson songs; “Cirkus.” It sports a deadly tritone riff on Mellotron that instantly makes me feel ill at ease. Then the song takes it from there.
I love “Tears of the Clowns”. I mean, a pop song that mentions Pagliacci! I remember being blown away by that! (when I was a kid, Saturdays were dedicated to the live performance of the opera from the Met in NY & nothing else was listened to ALL AFTERNOON. I love opera & classical music in general.)
But generally, I can’t stand clowns LOL