"The Show Must Go On" is a songco-written by Leo Sayer and David Courtney and first recorded by Sayer. It was released in the United Kingdom in 1973, becoming Sayer's first hit record (reaching its chart peak of #2 in early 1974 in the UK). The song reached #3 on the Irish Top Twenty in January 1974,[1] and was included on Sayer's debut album Silverbird.
It uses a circus theme as a metaphor for dealing with the difficulties and wrong choices of life. Early in Sayer's career, he performed it dressed and made up as a pierrotclown. The opening motif quotes Julius Fučík's "Entrance of the Gladiators" which is commonly associated with circus clowns.
In Sayer's version, the last line of the chorus is "I won't let the show go on". Three Dog Night sang it as "I must let the show go on", which Sayer was reportedly not happy about.