Learn to play "The Carny" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.
For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.
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 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 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 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" 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 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 Fm/C 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 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 Cm And a murder of crows did circle around First one, then the others flapping blackly down Cm And the Carny's van still sat upon the edge Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge 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 Fm/C And no-one saw the Carny go No-one saw the Carny go No-one saw the Carny go Cdim I say, it's funny how things go... You can simplify chords by removing barre | TransposeReset Font SizeReset Guitar Chord DiagramsC Cm Fm Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably. |
If you are also interested in learning how to play "The Carny" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "The Carny" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.