Clown (Korn song)


"Clown" is the fourth single by the American nu metal band Korn from their self-titled debut album.

Meaning

What inspired Jonathan Davis to write this song though, was an early gig in San Diego where a person in the audience was booing them and telling them to "go back to Bakersfield!" Jonathan knelt down to hear him and the guy took a swing at him. He missed and the band's manager assaulted him. The person was all tattooed and looked like a "clown" to Jonathan Davis, inspiring the title of the song and also the line "Hit me clown, because I'm not from your town." Preceding the song is a conversation with Korn fooling around at the song's recording.
A quote taken from Korn's ''Who Then Now?' video, which serves as an introduction for the music video:

Music video

The video begins with the band walking in a hallway of a high school. There are shots of a clown balancing something on his nose. Soon, the band starts playing in a locker room which appears to be happening at night. Jonathan Davis is seen singing and, in some clips, he's sitting in a locker room inside one of the dry showers. With a few people spraying a little bit of water on his hair to tease him. This represents some of his painful experiences in high school of being teased. It also features the band in a gym with clips of jocks in their football jerseys and cheerleaders seen by someone in the halls. One of the cheerleaders goes into a bathroom and starts smiling in the dark room. She proceeds to brush her hair with her hands. Clips also show the band performing in a dark room. The video ends with the cheerleader in the bathroom taking off her shirt, showing a tattoo on her back which is the band's logo. The music video most likely could be them in the school after a football game at night. The music video aired in 1995 and was directed by McG.

Appearances in other media

The song can be heard playing in the character Trent's car in a Season 1 episode of the animated series Daria.

Track listing

US Radio Promo

  1. "Clown" – 4:36
Note: the back cover does not state which version this is. However, it's identical to the Radio Edit on the below European promo.

European Radio Promo

  1. "Clown" – 3:52