SKELETON and the ROUNDABOUT

Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
I am the fairground man at heart
I run the roundabout this part
I fill this fair but custom have I none

I turn the handle round so fast it makes my elbow ache
Nobody seems to care
No-one rides upon my roundabout no longer anymore
Oh what a horrid fair!

Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout

Money there is none - I'm thinner than a skeleton

But wait a minute, I'm so thin
That all these aches and pains could be a chance for me
I could be a horror or a ghost in a ghost train
I think I'll go and see

I meet the man who runs the ghost train
He says, "You're just great!
I'll pay you top class wages
If you'll just hang from this gate"

A year is passing lots of food and money come my way
Oh lucky man am I
But who's this telling me, "You're fired!
You're much too fat to be a ghost, be on your way!"
So here I am

Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings

Skeleton and the Roundabout Lyrics as written by Jeff Lynne

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Skeleton and the Roundabout song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

1 Comment

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is not a bad song musically, but has the worst lyrics of any song, since seasons in the sun. I read here on song meanings someone thought the song was about a Skeleton going back and forth in my round about. Well, what is a round about, like a box or something, no as it turns out it's like a merry go round and some guy is turning it with his arm and the Skeleton is only mentioned one time and it's not a Skeleton going around a round about at all as the title suggests. This song could have been a big hit if it had better lyrics.

    tropicalthoughton July 27, 2014   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Page
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.