Written by Nick Cave
The timing seems hard but there are clues to be on time: - Play "Cm" when the verse comes quitely - Play "Fm/C" when the organ enters - Play "Cdim" when the tack piano strums Intro Cdim (fade in, then at 0:27 play it 14 times) Fm/C (14 times) verse 1 (1:08) Cm And no-one saw the Carny go, the weeks flew by Until they moved on the show, leaving his caravan behind Fm/C It was parked out on the south east ridge And as the company crossed the bridge Cm With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed It shone, just so, upon the edge, away, away, we're sad to say verse 2 Fm/C Dog-boy, Atlas, Mandrake, the geeks, the hired hands Cm 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 Bridge (2:02) Cdim (14 times) Fm/C (12 times) verse 3 Cm The Carny left behind a horse so skin and bone that he named Sorrow Fm/C And it was in a shallow, unmarked grave That that old nag was laid in the then parched meadow verse 4 Cm 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" Fm/C "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 Cm The boss says: "Bury this lump of crow bait" Bridge (3:30) Cdim (14 times) Fm/C (12 times) Verse 5 Cm And the rain came hammering down Everybody running for their wagons Tying all the canvas flaps down Fm/C The mangy cats growling in their cages The bird-girl flapping and squawking around Verse 6 Cm The whole valley reeking of wet beast Wet beast and rotten, sodden hay Freak and brute creation all Packed up and on their way Fm/C 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 Break (4:58) Fm/C (Strummed 8 times) Verse 7 Fm/C (Stummed 8 more times) 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 Bridge (5:23) Cdim (12 times) Verse 8 Cm 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 Fm/C 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 Bridge (6:06) Cdim (12 times) Verse 9 Cm And a murder of crows did circle around First one, then the others flapping blackly down Bridge (6:33) Cdim (8 times) verse 10 Cm And the Carny's van still sat upon the edge Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge Bridge (6:56) Cdim (8 times) Outro Cm And the rain it hammered down And the rain it hammered down And the rain it hammered down And the rain it hammered down Bridge (7:18) Cdim (8 times) End Fm/C And no-one saw the Carny go No-one saw the Carny go No-one saw the Carny go Cdim (play it 8 times and and on Cm) I say, it's funny how things go...
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