An uptempo version of the main melody for "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", "Oh What a Circus" acts as an introduction to the whole musical and is sung after "Requiem for Evita", as Che ponders about the life of Eva. The song was composed in a key of C major with a medium tempo of 128 beats per minute. Essex's voice spans from C3 to E5 and the song follows a basic sequence of F/C–G7–C–Am/C–Dsus–C–D7/C–G/B as its chord progression. Lyrically, it talks about the news of Eva's death and her funeral, as well as Che's belief that the mourning for her was misplaced and Eva's life and preaching was fraudulent. It compares her life to that of a circus with a choir added during the middle section. The lyrics question the sainthood of Eva and her praise as a godly character among the Argentinians, while taunting her that she had failed her people by not being immortal. The words had rhyming across the verses like those of ("show/go") and ("town/down") which Rice explained was done intentionally to make the song appear asymmetrical.