I've seen your face
In every place that I'll be going
I read your words
Like black hungry birds read every song

Rise and fall
Spin and call
And my name
Is carnival

Sad music in the night
Sings a scream of light out of chorus
And voices you might hear appear and disappear
In the forest
Short and tall throw the ball
And my name is carnival

Strings of yellow tears
Drip from black wire fears in the meadow
And their white halos spin
With an anger that is thin and turns to sorrow

King of all
Hear me call
Hear my name
Carnival

Here there is no law
But the arcade's penny claw
Hanging empty
The painted laughing smile
And the turning of the style
Do not envy

And the small
Can steal the ball
To touch the face
Of carnival

The fat woman frowns
At screaming frightened clowns
That move enchanted
And a shadow lie and waits
Outside your iron gates
With one wish granted

Colours fall
Throw the ball
Play the game
Of carnival

Without a thought of size
You come to hypnotize
The danger
The world that comes apart
Has no single heart
When life is stranger

Wheel and call
Clawed dreams all
In the name
Of carnival

Wheel and call
Clawed dreams all
In the name
Of carnival

Wheel and call
Clawed dreams all
In the name
Of carnival