The Carny

"The Carny" is a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appearing on their fourth studio album Your Funeral... My Trial. It was written by Nick Cave and was recorded in August 1986 at Hansa Tonstudio and Strongroom.

"The Carny"
Song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
from the album Your Funeral... My Trial
Released3 November 1986 (1986-11-03)
RecordedJuly – August 1986 (1986-08) at Hansa Tonstudio, Berlin, Germany and Strongroom in London, United Kingdom
GenrePost-punk
Length8:01
LabelMute
Songwriter(s)Nick Cave
Producer(s)Tony Cohen, Flood

Subject

The lyrics concern a carnival worker who vanished, highlighted in the words "No one saw the Carny go". As the circus prepares to leave without the missing performer, they find the Carny's horse Sorrow, "so skin and bone", and kill it. The dwarfs Moses and Noah dig a ditch to bury it, later remarking "we should've dug a deeper one". When it begins to rain, the Carny's caravan is swept away.[1]

The song is featured in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire, when the character Marion (Solveig Dommartin) listens to the album Your Funeral, My Trial. The song corresponds to the plot, in which the circus that Marion works for as a trapeze artist closes down.[1] Professor Adrian Danks wrote "The Carny" adds a feel of sorrow in the background, while Marion gives "breathy accompaniment".[2] Cave personally appears in the film in later scenes.[3]

Accolades
Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
2004 Mojo United Kingdom 100 Epic Rock Tracks[4] 58
2011 Dave Thompson United Kingdom 1000 Songs that Rock Your World[5] 304

Personnel

Adapted from the Your Funeral... My Trial liner notes.[6]

See also

References

  1. Davison, Annette (2017). "Music to Desire By: The Soundtrack to Wim Wenders's Der Himmel über Berlin". "Hollywood Theory, Non-Hollywood Practice ": Cinema Soundtracks in the 1980s and 1990s. Routledge. ISBN 1351563580.
  2. Danks, Adrian (2016). "Red Right Hand: Nick Cave and the Cinema". Cultural Seeds: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave. London and New York: Routledge. p. 114. ISBN 1317156250.
  3. Billingham, Peter (2013). "'Into My Arms': Themes of Desire and Spirituality in The Boatman's Call". The Art of Nick Cave: New Critical Essays. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect Books. p. 13. ISBN 1841506273.
  4. "Mojo: 100 Epic Rock Tracks". Mojo. No. 125. April 2004. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  5. Thompson, Dave (May 3, 2011). "The Carny by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds". Krause Publications. p. 213. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  6. Your Funeral... My Trial (sleeve). Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. London, United Kingdom: Mute Records. 1986.CS1 maint: others (link)
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