Lyrics to
The Carny

This version of The Carny was released by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in 1986.

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And no-one saw the Carny go, the weeks flew by
Until they moved on the show, leaving his caravan behind
It was parked out on the south east ridge
And as the company crossed the bridge
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed
It shone, just so, upon the edge
Away, away, we’re sad to say

Dog-boy, Atlas, Mandrake, the geeks, the hired hands
There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind
In the hope that the Carny would return to his own kind

The Carny left behind a horse so skin and bone that he named Sorrow
And it was in a shallow, unmarked grave
That that old nag was laid
In the then parched meadow

And it was the dwarves that were given the task of digging the ditch
And laying the nag’s carcass in the ground
While boss Bellini, waved his smoking pistol around
saying “The nag was dead meat”
“We can’t afford to carry dead weight”
While the whole company standing about, not making a sound
And turning to the dwarves perched on the enclosure gate
The boss says “Bury this lump of crow bait”

And the rain came hammering down
Everybody running for their wagons
Tying all the canvas flaps down
The mangy cats growling in their cages
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around
The whole valley reeking of wet beast
Wet beast and rotten, sodden hay
Freak and brute creation all
Packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peering from their wagon’s hind
Moses says to Noah “Shoulda dugga deepa one”
Their grizzled faces like dying moons
Still dirty from the digging done

And Charlie the Atlas to the three said
“I guess the Carny ain’t gonna show”
And they were silent for a spell
wishing they’d done a better job of burying Sorrow

And the company passed from the valley
Into a higher ground
And the rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow
And on the mound

Until nothing was left, nothing left at all
Except the body of Sorrow
That rose in time
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil

And a murder of crows did circle ’round
First one, then the others flapping blackly down

And the Carny’s van still sat upon the edge
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge

And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down
And the rain it hammered down

And no-one saw the Carny go
No-one saw the Carny go
No-one saw the Carny go
I say, it’s funny how things go…

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds has released many songs over the years besides The Carny. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released songs from 1984 to 2004 spanning across albums like From Her To Eternity, The Firstborn Is Dead, Kicking Against The Pricks, Your Funeral My Trial, Tender Prey, The Good Son, Henry's Dream, Let Love In, Murder Ballads, The Boatman's Call, No More Shall We Part, and Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

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