LyricMeaning

The Carny
Nick Cave & The Bad Seed

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, they 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 a shallow unmarked grave

That the old nag was laid

In the then parched meadow

And it was the dwarves who 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 is dead meat, we can't afford to carry dead weight

The whole company standing about

Not making a sound

And turning to dwarves perched on the enclosure gate

The boss says Bury this lump of crow bait

And then the rain came thundering down

Everybody runnin' for their wagons

Tyin' all the canvas flaps down

The mangy cats crawlin' in ther cages

The bird-girl flappin' and squawkin' around

The whole valley reekin' of wet beast

Wet beast and rotten hay

Freak and brute creation

All packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peerin' from their wagon's hind

Moses says to Noah, We shoulda dug a deeper one

Their grizzled faces like dyin' moons

Still dirty from the diggin' done

And Charlie, the eldest of the three said

I guess the carny ain't gonna show

And they were silent for a spell

Wishin' they had done a better job of burying Sorrow

And the company passed from the valley

Into a higher ground

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

And no one saw the carny go

And no one saw the carny go

I say it's funny how things go


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Lyrics by Nick Cave & The Bad Seed

  500 Miles   A Box For Black Paul   A Dead Song   Abattoir Blues   Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore   Albert Goes West   All The Pretty Little Horses   All The Pretty Little Horses (Traditional Version)   All The Pretty Little Horsies   All Tomorrow's Parties   And No More Shall We Part   Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For?   As I Sat Sadly By Her Side   Avalanche   Babe, I Got You Bad   Babe, I'm on Fire   Babe, You Turn Me On   Big-Jesus-Trash-Can   Black Betty   Black Betty (Nick Cave Version)   Black Betty (Traditional Version)   Black Crow King   Black Hair   Blast Off   Bless His Ever Loving Heart   Blind Lemon Jefferson   Blue Bird   Blundertown   Breathless   Bring It On   Brompton Oratory   Brother, My Cup Is Empty   By The Time I Get To Phoenix   Cabin Fever!   Cannibal's Hymn   Capers   Carry Me   Cassiel's Song   Christina The Astonishing   Cindy   Cindy (Traditional Version)   City Of Refuge   City Of Refuge - Ciudad Protectora (spanish Versio...   Come Into My Sleep   Crow Jane   Cry   Darker With the Day   Dead Joe   Dead Man in My Bed   Deanna   Deanna - Diana (spanish Version)   Death Is Not The End   Deep in the Woods   Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!   Do You Love Me?   Do You Love Me? (part 2)   Down in a Willow Garden   Down In A Willow Garden (Traditional Version)   Dull Day   Dumb Europe   Easy Money   Fable Of The Brown Ape   Far From Me   Faraway, So Close!   Fears of Gun   Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow   Foi Na Cruz   From Her To Eternity   Gates to the Garden   Get Ready For Love   Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass   Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass - Mujer Al Fondo De...   God Is in the House   God's Hotel   Green Eyes   Grief Came Riding   Hallelujah   Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)   Happy Birthday   Hard On For Love   He Wants You   Helpless   Henry Lee   Henry Lee (Nick Cave version)   Hey Joe   Hiding All Away   Ho-ho   Hold On To Yourself   How Long, How Long Blues   How Long, How Long Blues (Traditional Version)   I Do Dear, I Do.   I Do Love Her So (Lime Tree Arbour)   I Feel So Good   I Had A Dream, Joe   I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condit...   I Let Love In   I Put A Spell On You   I Rowed a Little Boat   I Rowed A Little Boat (Traditional Version)   I'll Love You Till The End Of The World   I'm Gonna Kill That Woman   Idiot Prayer   In The Ghetto   Into My Arms   Jack The Ripper   Jack's Shadow   Jangling Jack   Jennifer's Veil   Jesus Met The Woman At The Well   Jesus Of The Moon   John Finn's Wife   Junkyard   Just You and Me   Katy Cruel (Traditional Version)   Kewpie Doll   King Ink   King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O   Kiss Me Black   Knockin' On Joe   Knoxville Girl   Lament   Lay Me Low   Let The Bells Ring   Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)   Little Empty Boat   Little Janey's Gone   Little Water Song   Long Black Veil   Long Time Fan   Long Time Man   Long Time Man (Nick Cave version)   Love Henry   Love Henry (Traditional Version)   Love Letter   Lovely Creature   Loverman   Lucy   Mack The Knife   Mama's Boy   Mercy - Misericordia (spanish Version)   Messiah Ward   Midnight Man   Mister Frog Went A-Courting   Mister Frog Went A-Courting (Traditional Version)   Mojo   Moonland   More News From Nowhere   Mr. Clarinet   Muddy Water   Mutiny in Heaven   Nature Boy   New Morning   New Morning - Nuevo Amanecer (spanish Version)   Nick the Stripper   Night Of The Lotus Eaters   Nobody's Baby Now   O Children   O'Malley's Bar   Oh My Lord   Oh, Happy Day   Oh, Happy Day (Traditional Version)   Opium Tea   Oxford Tragedy (Traditional Version)   Papa Won't Leave You, Henry   Patripassian   Peace In the Valley   Peace In the Valley (Traditional Version)   People Ain't No Good   Plain Gold Ring   Pleasure Is The Boss   Rainy Night In Soho   Rainy Night In Soho (traditional Version)   Red Right Hand   Release the Bats   Riddle House (Howard)   Right Now I'm A-Roaming   Right Out of Your Hand   Rock of Gibraltar   Running Scared   Rye Whiskey   Rye Whiskey (Traditional Version)   Rye Whiskey (tranditonal version)   Sad Dark Eyes   Sad Waters   Sail Away   Saint Huck   Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree   Scum   Several Sins   She Fell Away   She Passed by My Window   She's Hit   She's Leaving You   Shivers (Howard)   Six Inch Gold Blade   Sleeping Analeah   Slowly Goes The Night   Slowly Goes The Night - Despacio Pasa La Noche (sp...   Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart   Song Of Joy   Sonny's Burning   Sorrow's Child   Spell   Stagalee   Stagger Lee   Stagolee (Traditional Version 1)   Stagolee (Traditional Version 2)   Stagolee (Traditional Version 3)   Still in Love   Stow-a-way   Straight To You   Stranger Than Kindness   Sugar Sugar Sugar   Sugar Sugar Sugar - Dulce Dulce Dulce (spanish Ver...   Sunday's Slave   Sunday's Slave - Esclavos Del Domingo (spanish Ver...   Supernaturally   Swampland   Sweetheart Come   That's What Jazz Is To Me   The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane   The Big Hurt   The Briddle Path   The Carnival Is Over   The Curse Of Millhaven   The Dim Locator   The Friend Catcher   The Good Hun   The Good Son   The Good Son (Nick Cave Version)   The Hammer Song   The Kindness Of Strangers   The Loom Of The Land   The Lyre Of Orpheus   The Mercy Seat   The Mercy Seat - Santuario (spanish Version)   The Moon Is In The Gutter   The Ship Song   The Singer   The Six Strings That Drew Blood   The Sorrowful Wife   The Sweetest Embrace   The Train Song   The Weeping Song   The Willow Garden   The Witness Song   There Is A Kingdom   There Is A Light   There Is a Town   There She Goes, My Beautiful World   Thirsty Dog   Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum   To Be By Your Side   Today's Lesson   Tower Of Song   Train Long-suffering   Truck Love   Tupelo   Tupelo Blues   Tupelo Blues (Traditional Version)   Up Jumped The Devil   Up Jumped The Devil - Saltado El Demonio (spanish ...   Viviane   Vixo   Wade In The Water   Wade In The Water (Traditional Version)   Wanted Man   Watching Alice   Watching Alice - Mirando A Alicia (spanish Version...   We Call Upon The Author   We Came Along This Road   Well Of Misery   West Country Girl   What A Wonderful World   What Can I Give You?   When I First Came To Town   Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere   Where The Action Is   Where The Wild Roses Grow   Wife   Wild World   Wings Off Flies   Wonderful Life   Yard   Young Hunting (Traditional Version)   Young Hunting (tranditional version)   Your Funeral... My Trial   Zoo Music Girl

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