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

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

Have I been blind, have I been lost

Inside myself and my own mind

Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen

Have I been wrong, have I been wise

To shut my eyes and play along

Hypnotized, paralyzed by what my eyes have found

By what my eyes have seen

What they have seen?

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

Have I been strong

Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found

In that great street carnival

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

Have I been strong

Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found

In that great street carnival

In that carnival