Carnival is deeply beautiful, multifaceted, thought-provoking, bittersweet song. This level of songwriting is rare especially nowadays. I think it is about the facades that are created by the kinds of people who come into your life to dupe you, victimize you, and/or take advantage of you or to simply make themselves (or their lifestyles or belief systems) superior to you in some way. I believe it is about the way we think we know a person and we really do not. Yet something instinctual says no this is not right. Still we close our eyes "and play along" because the reality of it is to painful to face. Still the whole time we are knowing deep inside that what is being presented is not authentic. It is not right. This can be said for individual souls that meet us along the path of life and it can be about the injustices that so many of face in this world. Whole ways of life can be a facade of virtual smoke and mirrors. Simply an elaborate trick, not real--only lies and omissions that we seem to have become very capable of perpetrating onto each other to get our own needs met be it for money, fame, or for just plain evil. To harm and abuse and selfishly take even from the most helpless, impoverished and vulnerable among us. Trusting adults, children, animals, elderly people whomever we can “get over on” it seems. That is my impression of the carnival that Natalie Merchant is singing about. I first heard this song when I was watching a documentary about Aileen "Lee" Wuornos. No matter the reasons for what she did her life from childhood on was filled with unspeakable horror, poverty, desperation, tragedy, pain–and no one even when she was an infant was EVER there for her in any way. This song touches me deeply I love this song. It makes me cry at times, yet it comforts me deeply when I am in pain or am confused about the excluding, cruel, or senseless actions of others towards their fellow living beings this planet. Thank you Natalie Merchant for writing and singing this beautiful, truthful song, and thank you Lee for loving it enough so that I could find it also.
Thank you for your beautifully expressed comment. It says it all for me. I saw the documentary on Aileen last week and heard Carnival for the first time. The lyrics are amazingly appropriate. And the melody is addictive. I keep returning to it. It hits a nerve. The tragic story of Aileen's life and the pain she inflicted on others is rooted in absence. She learnt to connect and fill that emptiness in a way which stripped and scared her even more. Her mother's short interview was chilling. ...
Thank you for your beautifully expressed comment. It says it all for me. I saw the documentary on Aileen last week and heard Carnival for the first time. The lyrics are amazingly appropriate. And the melody is addictive. I keep returning to it. It hits a nerve. The tragic story of Aileen's life and the pain she inflicted on others is rooted in absence. She learnt to connect and fill that emptiness in a way which stripped and scared her even more. Her mother's short interview was chilling. We live in dread of absence and emptiness. We are all connected. We all have a part to play. Natalie Merchant has played her part using her talent to write this beautiful song.
Carnival is deeply beautiful, multifaceted, thought-provoking, bittersweet song. This level of songwriting is rare especially nowadays. I think it is about the facades that are created by the kinds of people who come into your life to dupe you, victimize you, and/or take advantage of you or to simply make themselves (or their lifestyles or belief systems) superior to you in some way. I believe it is about the way we think we know a person and we really do not. Yet something instinctual says no this is not right. Still we close our eyes "and play along" because the reality of it is to painful to face. Still the whole time we are knowing deep inside that what is being presented is not authentic. It is not right. This can be said for individual souls that meet us along the path of life and it can be about the injustices that so many of face in this world. Whole ways of life can be a facade of virtual smoke and mirrors. Simply an elaborate trick, not real--only lies and omissions that we seem to have become very capable of perpetrating onto each other to get our own needs met be it for money, fame, or for just plain evil. To harm and abuse and selfishly take even from the most helpless, impoverished and vulnerable among us. Trusting adults, children, animals, elderly people whomever we can “get over on” it seems. That is my impression of the carnival that Natalie Merchant is singing about. I first heard this song when I was watching a documentary about Aileen "Lee" Wuornos. No matter the reasons for what she did her life from childhood on was filled with unspeakable horror, poverty, desperation, tragedy, pain–and no one even when she was an infant was EVER there for her in any way. This song touches me deeply I love this song. It makes me cry at times, yet it comforts me deeply when I am in pain or am confused about the excluding, cruel, or senseless actions of others towards their fellow living beings this planet. Thank you Natalie Merchant for writing and singing this beautiful, truthful song, and thank you Lee for loving it enough so that I could find it also.
Thank you for your beautifully expressed comment. It says it all for me. I saw the documentary on Aileen last week and heard Carnival for the first time. The lyrics are amazingly appropriate. And the melody is addictive. I keep returning to it. It hits a nerve. The tragic story of Aileen's life and the pain she inflicted on others is rooted in absence. She learnt to connect and fill that emptiness in a way which stripped and scared her even more. Her mother's short interview was chilling. ...
Thank you for your beautifully expressed comment. It says it all for me. I saw the documentary on Aileen last week and heard Carnival for the first time. The lyrics are amazingly appropriate. And the melody is addictive. I keep returning to it. It hits a nerve. The tragic story of Aileen's life and the pain she inflicted on others is rooted in absence. She learnt to connect and fill that emptiness in a way which stripped and scared her even more. Her mother's short interview was chilling. We live in dread of absence and emptiness. We are all connected. We all have a part to play. Natalie Merchant has played her part using her talent to write this beautiful song.