In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I quit the carnival
It moved next door
I thought I'd had enough
But I want more
So now I'm sneaking out at night
I paint my face and shine my shoes
And go where I'm not supposed to
Cause I tamed a lion once
I stole his roar
I stripped his pride away
But he found more
So now he's back to take what's his
And shove my future in my face
And scare me back in my place
So soon, so soon
You've got it beat
'Til it eats you
I left my flaming sword
Beside your bed
I woke to find it pressed
Against my neck
You wept "Suggestion never works
So now I'm trying something else"
I shut my eyes, hold on, oh well
I felt a feather fall
A tree trunk split
Inside my lion laughed
Played violin
He said you should give up your voice
Before we both end up destroyed
I quit alright, he purred, "Good boy"
"Cause you'll believe anything"
And we went and copped
"And you'll fall for anyone"
And I said, "That's not exactly true"
Only you
I'll do what you do"
You wake in the hospital
In a thrift store suit
You hear your lover's voice
From the waiting room
You shut your eyes and pray for peace
Think, I'm not here, this isn't me
This isn't something I would do
I know the complicated truth
A make up mask, a lion's roar
A big top tent, a fire sword
But they're not real, they never were
And soon she won't be real either
This is the life you went and earned
Because you never fucking learn
And you could waste all of your years
Fixing the mess you're making here
So as her nervous breath draws close
Her dress heels click off their approach
You clutch your chest and whisper
"Oh no, what will I do?
What will I do?
My love, my love, oh, what will I do?" (Wake up)
Mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh
Mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh
Uh-oh-oho, oho-ohoh-oho
Uh-oh-oho, oho-ohoh-oho
Oh, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
It moved next door
I thought I'd had enough
But I want more
So now I'm sneaking out at night
I paint my face and shine my shoes
And go where I'm not supposed to
Cause I tamed a lion once
I stole his roar
I stripped his pride away
But he found more
So now he's back to take what's his
And shove my future in my face
And scare me back in my place
So soon, so soon
You've got it beat
'Til it eats you
I left my flaming sword
Beside your bed
I woke to find it pressed
Against my neck
You wept "Suggestion never works
So now I'm trying something else"
I shut my eyes, hold on, oh well
I felt a feather fall
A tree trunk split
Inside my lion laughed
Played violin
He said you should give up your voice
Before we both end up destroyed
I quit alright, he purred, "Good boy"
"Cause you'll believe anything"
And we went and copped
"And you'll fall for anyone"
And I said, "That's not exactly true"
Only you
I'll do what you do"
You wake in the hospital
In a thrift store suit
You hear your lover's voice
From the waiting room
You shut your eyes and pray for peace
Think, I'm not here, this isn't me
This isn't something I would do
I know the complicated truth
A make up mask, a lion's roar
A big top tent, a fire sword
But they're not real, they never were
And soon she won't be real either
This is the life you went and earned
Because you never fucking learn
And you could waste all of your years
Fixing the mess you're making here
So as her nervous breath draws close
Her dress heels click off their approach
You clutch your chest and whisper
"Oh no, what will I do?
What will I do?
My love, my love, oh, what will I do?" (Wake up)
Mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh
Mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh-mhh
Uh-oh-oho, oho-ohoh-oho
Uh-oh-oho, oho-ohoh-oho
Oh, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
Lyrics submitted by godphauther, edited by cybenddragon, krissy242
Carnival Lyrics as written by Kevin Devine
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I agree, I think it's about drugs, he's girlfriend is trying to get him to quit and maybe he has been clean for a while but he slips and goes back to the "carnival", I think the lion again represents drugs, saying he tamed it once but now he's loosing control of it, the flaming sword is a needle perhaps and he's lover catches him using it, soon he finds himself in a hospital bed perhaps with regret for what he did and tryings to think of how he's going to explain what he did.
@Cyberghost That was very well thought out. before I read this I had no idea what the song meant. This obviously isn't the DEFINITE meaning but it could be where he was going with it!
"Carnival is a nightmare song. It's a song about buckling under the weight of your bad choices, bad behavior, about loss of control and lost love. It's a conscience song about strain and about waking up from a kind of fever dream... to an even more frightening and absurd but actual set of circumstances." -KD
My favorite new demo. No idea yet what it means to me, but the sound of this song is amazing. It's so dark and creepy...I imagine a really cool video of a dark creepy carnival with all this crazy shit. I mean, if Kevin made videos.
this song reminds of a bad breakup with a stuck up chick. stop the show she's quitting. but she's picked up a bunch of new tools which leave us in a stupid wonder. change after change a stupid wonder.
he has a video for brooklyn boy, so who knows.
at least in the version i have, the 2008 demo, it says "i paint my face, i shine my shoes" "i shut my eyes, ho hum, oh well" "inside my lion laugh played violin" "only you, i do what you do"
yeah, really only minor differences. absolutely amazing song though.
i totally agree. i can't stop listening to it. haunting.
has everyone else heard the latest version of this song?
BEST EVER.
You mean the live version?
"...the hypnotic and ominous "Carnival" sets the tone its with spacious, swirling flares of psychedelia, its dynamic exploration of tension and release playing against a nightmarish hallucination about lost willpower and the fear of finally waking up to a real life that's even crazier than your dreams"
Off the Favorite Gentlemen website
which version is this? The album version is a bit different.
on the album version, does anyone else hear the death cab - y sound to it? not so much the lyrics, but everything else..
YES. So I'm not the only one who thinks that.