The Carny chords

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

Key: 

Simplify chords 

  			


The timing seems hard but there are clues to be on time: 
- Play "Cm" when the verse comes quitely 
- Play "Fm/C" when the organ enters 
- Play "Cdim" when the tack piano strums  


Intro 

Cdim (fade in, then at 0:27 play it 14 times) 
Fm/C (14 times) 


verse 1 (1:08) 
Cm  
And no-one saw the Carny go, the weeks flew by 
Until they moved on the show, leaving his caravan behind 
Fm/C  
It was parked out on the south east ridge 
And as the company crossed the bridge 
                                      Cm 
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed 
It shone, just so, upon the edge, away, away, we're sad to say 


verse 2 
Fm/C 
Dog-boy, Atlas, Mandrake, the geeks, the hired hands 
Cm 
There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind 
In the hope that the Carny would return to his own kind 


Bridge (2:02) 
Cdim  (14 times)  
Fm/C (12 times) 


verse 3 
Cm 
The Carny left behind a horse so skin and bone that he named Sorrow 
                           Fm/C 
And it was in a shallow, unmarked grave 
That that old nag was laid in the then parched meadow 


verse 4 
Cm 
And it was the dwarves that were given the task of digging the ditch 
And laying the nag's carcass in the ground 
While boss Bellini, waved his smoking pistol around saying: 
"The nag was dead meat" 
Fm/C 
"We can't afford to carry dead weight" 
While the whole company standing about, not making a sound 
And turning to the dwarves perched on the enclosure gate 
Cm 
The boss says: "Bury this lump of crow bait" 


Bridge (3:30) 
Cdim (14 times) 
Fm/C (12 times) 


Verse 5 
Cm 
And the rain came hammering down 
Everybody running for their wagons 
Tying all the canvas flaps down 
Fm/C 
The mangy cats growling in their cages 
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around 


Verse 6 
Cm 
The whole valley reeking of wet beast 
Wet beast and rotten, sodden hay 
Freak and brute creation all 
Packed up and on their way 
Fm/C 
The three dwarves peering from their wagon's hind 
Moses says to Noah: "Shoulda dugga deepa one" 
Their grizzled faces like dying moons 
Still dirty from the digging done 


Break (4:58) 
Fm/C (Strummed 8 times) 


Verse 7 
Fm/C (Stummed 8 more times) 
And Charlie the Atlas to the three said: 
"I guess the Carny ain't gonna show" 
And they were silent for a spell 
wishing they'd done a better job of burying Sorrow 


Bridge (5:23) 
Cdim (12 times) 


Verse 8 
Cm 
And the company passed from the valley into a higher ground 
And the rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow and on the mound 
Fm/C 
Until nothing was left, nothing left at all 
Except the body of Sorrow, that rose in time 
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil 


Bridge (6:06) 
Cdim (12 times) 


Verse 9 
Cm 
And a murder of crows did circle around 
First one, then the others flapping blackly down 


Bridge (6:33) 
Cdim (8 times) 


verse 10 
Cm 
And the Carny's van still sat upon the edge 
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge 


Bridge (6:56) 
Cdim (8 times) 


Outro 
Cm 
And the rain it hammered down 
And the rain it hammered down 
And the rain it hammered down 
And the rain it hammered down 


Bridge (7:18) 
Cdim (8 times) 


End 
Fm/C 
And no-one saw the Carny go 
No-one saw the Carny go 
No-one saw the Carny go 
                            Cdim (play it 8 times and and on Cm) 
I say, it's funny how things go...