Carnival - Natalie Merchant

Well, I’ve walked these streets

A virtual stage, it seemed to me Makeup on their faces

Actors took their places next to me Well, I’ve walked these streets

In a carnival, of sights to see

All the cheap thrill seekers vendors and the dealers

They crowded around me 1-Have I been blind have I been lost

Inside myself and my own mind

Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?

Well, I’ve walked these streets

In a spectacle of wealth and poverty

In the diamond markets the scarlet welcome carpet

That they just rolled out for me And I’ve walked these streets

In the madhouse asylum they can be Where a wild-eyed misfit prophet

On a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me

(rpt 1)

Have I been blind, have I been lost

Have I been blind, have I been mean

Have I been strong

Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen

In that great street carnival, in that carnival?

Source: CC from LETTERMAN’s THE LATE SHOW (July 25)