I've lately been analyzing these lyrics from Otis and Marlena: Watching three rings in the sun The golden dive, the fatted flake And sizzle in the [their?] mink oil
In the DJRD songbook there is a period after 'sun.' The vinyl fold-out does not include a period; nor does the Complete Poems & Lyrics. At one point I thought that the three grammatical constructions after 'three rings' were 'dive', 'flake', and 'sizzle' and that they were all nouns and that they were all examples of the 'rings'. But now I think they are three verbs with two subjects: the golden [suntanned people] dive [into pools] the fatted [old people] flake [from sunburn] and sizzle in their mink oil [while suntanning] The point about 'three rings' representing a circus is a good one.
