Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Welcome to The Haunted Carnival Step right up, step right up, don't be shy, Drop your copper coins and look up high. See the spinning wheel of fortune turn, Watch the fiery rings of paper burn. Listen to the brass band play its tune, Underneath the pale and crescent moon. Follow down the sawdust-covered lane, Wash away your sorrow and your pain. Wooden horses gallop round and round, With a rhythmic, steady, heavy pound. Hear the tinny calliope wheeze and sigh, As the painted world goes rushing by. Take a ticket for the phantom ride, Where the shadows and the secrets hide. Step inside the mirrored chamber door, Never find your way back out no more. Peel the cotton candy from the stick, Swallow down the syrup sweet and thick. Throw the painted balls and break the plates, Mock the cruel and arbitrary Fates. Come and test your muscle with the sledge, Hammer flying right up to the edge. Ring the silver bell and win a prize, Mirrors telling falsehoods and black lies. Hear the roaring engine of the cage, As the lion paces on the stage. Whip is cracking loud against the air, Dust is rising thick and settling there. Midnight comes to shroud the fading show, Pack the wagons up and onward go. Leave the empty field to rust and rain, Till the circus rolls back into town again.
