Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Lyric guide

The Carny

Read The Carny lyrics by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on LyroVerse, with linked artist context and related song paths.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds visibility1 visits
person Curated by Ethan Walker LyroVerse team
Reference snapshot

The page facts to cite before the commentary

Use this page for the lyric text, linked artist context, and any LyroVerse editor's note attached to the song. Listener comments remain user-generated and should not be treated as the primary source.

Page type: lyric reference Artist: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Canonical path: /nick-cave-e-the-bad-seeds/the-carny Related lyric paths: 6
Lyrics

The Carny

The lyric stays readable and compact here; the note and related paths sit nearby so you do not lose the song while looking for context.

And no-one saw the Carny go

And 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, Man-drake, 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'd namedSorrow

And it was 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 theditch

And laying the nag's carcass in the ground

while boss Bellini, waved his smoking pistol 'round

Saying ''The nag was dead meat''

''We can't afford to carry dead weight''

The whole company standing about

Not making a sound

And turning to the dwarves on the enclosured 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 squawkening 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 through their wagon's hind

Moses says to Noah ''We shoulda dugga deepa one''

Their grissom 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 at burrying Sorrow

And the company'd passed from the valley into 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 its funny how things go

Quick answers

What this page can answer fast

Who performs "The Carny"?

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds performs "The Carny", and this lyric page sits inside the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "The Carny"?

Yes. The related section below points to Abattoir blues and Albert Goes West with a short reason for opening each page next.

Where can I find more songs by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds?

Use the artist link near the top of the page or the related paths section below to keep moving through Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds's lyric pages.

Song Room

Interpretations, questions, and corrections for this song

Interpretations, questions, memories, and correction notes live together here. The room stays noindex while the best insights are reviewed.

Open Song Room
0 followers Selected insights only surface after moderation
Listener comments

What people are saying

0 comments
Add a short interpretation or memory

A strong comment here is specific: the phrase you keep hearing, the mood you come back for, or the reason this song stays in rotation.

Sign in to post the first listener note. Reporting stays open to everyone.

No listener comments on The Carny yet.