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The Band — Life Is A Carnival (live)
Album: Rock Of Ages
Avg rating:
6.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 447









Released: 1972
Length: 3:58
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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You can walk on the water, drown in the sand
You can fly off a mountaintop if anybody can
Run away, run away--it's the restless age
Look away, look away--you can turn the page

Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap
Here on the street
I got six on each arm and two more round my feet
Life is a carnival--believe it or not
Life is a carnival--two bits a shot

Saw a man with the jinx in the third degree
From trying to deal with people--people you can't see
Take away, take away, this house of mirrors
Give away, give away, all the souvenirs
We're all in the same boat ready to float off the edge of the world
The flat old world
The street is a sideshow from the peddler to the corner girl
Life is a carnival--it's in the book
Life is a carnival--take another look

Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap
Here on the street
I got six on each arm and two more round my feet
Life is a carnival--believe it or not
Life is a carnival--two bits a shot
Comments (21)add comment
i love it when i can hear rick danko loud and clear. i just love his vocals. 
Posted 9 months ago by lily34    [ Reply ]
Saw them at Wembley Stadium in September 1974 with CSNY, Joni Mitchell, Jesse Colin Young and Tom Scott. Great set..but a long way away! 
What a legacy of great music they have left us.
Posted 3 years ago by WilliDoc    [ Reply ]
 Skydog wrote:

you are correct Sir, it is a verrry funky opening
 

That it is.  I heard The Band do that tune as an encore at a 1969 show in Detroit.  Just amazing.
Posted 3 years ago by garyalex    [ Reply ]
Went to see The Band at Fillmore East in early 1969 mainly because the rumor in the City was that Dylan was going to be there. Dylan didn't show but no one was disappointed, they were great and I've been a huge fan ever since.
Posted 4 years ago by ImaOldman    [ Reply ]
As a Toronto hometown band, I was thrilled to see them back in town at Massey Hall backing Dylan when he first went electric in '65 and they got booed by all the folkies. He didn't care, and of course, the rest is a history that we all know.
This was up there with another great concert at Massey Hall when Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Dizzy Gillespie took to the stage in May 1953. Still considered by many the greatest jazz concert ever.
Posted 4 years ago by Canadese    [ Reply ]
 stephen.king12101 wrote:
Cool I caught them S.F. Great American Music Hall both nights Big time treat
 
Stephen did you ever watch the last waltz?
Posted 4 years ago by jp33442    [ Reply ]
Cool I caught them S.F. Great American Music Hall both nights Big time treat
Posted 5 years ago by stephen.king12101    [ Reply ]
Oh, joy! {#Clap} I love The Band, especially their more obscure tracks like this one. My ex and I saw their 90s incarnation live a few times... so much fun, though tempered by knowing that half the original lineup has passed away. The ex and I lasted 10 years, but our combined taste in music lives forever! {#Group-hug}
Posted 7 years ago by skindy    [ Reply ]
 Grammarcop wrote:
Life as a carnivore?

 
Vegan just didn't make for a Fat Tuesday party song lyric. Mardi Gras {#Bananajam}
Posted 7 years ago by the_jake    [ Reply ]
 doc_dave wrote:
{#Clap}

 — and hard to fathom that "Don't Do It" (one of the *great* opening tracks, ever) appears never to have been played?

 
you are correct Sir, it is a verrry funky opening
Posted 8 years ago by Skydog    [ Reply ]
{#Clap}

This was one of my high-rotation albums back in the day (70s...). Would love to hear more from it. I see several in RP's playlist, but they aren't frequently played — and hard to fathom that "Don't Do It" (one of the *great* opening tracks, ever) appears never to have been played?
Posted 8 years ago by doc_dave    [ Reply ]
I hear Little Feat!!{#Dancingbanana}
Posted 8 years ago by iloveradio    [ Reply ]
Life as a carnivore?
Posted 8 years ago by Grammarcop    [ Reply ]
 skyguy wrote:
I could've sworn this was Little Feat

  

 unclehud wrote:

Me too.
 
From Wikipedia:  Musical notation for this song is printed on a wall behind Levon Helm's grave in Woodstock, New York.

 

Thought so too until Levon (?) started singing. It was the horns what tricked us, boys! 

Unclehud, glad you're back in the States... 
Posted 8 years ago by kcar    [ Reply ]
Nice song! (And played after all these years... {#Wink})
Posted 9 years ago by Dinges,_the_Dude    [ Reply ]
 skyguy wrote:
I could've sworn this was Little Feat

 
They draw from similar sources.
Posted 10 years ago by Bleyfusz    [ Reply ]
 skyguy wrote:
I could've sworn this was Little Feat
 
Me too.
 
From Wikipedia:  Musical notation for this song is printed on a wall behind Levon Helm's grave in Woodstock, New York.
Posted 10 years ago by unclehud    [ Reply ]

Posted 10 years ago by RabbitEars    [ Reply ]
This doesn't sound anything like the soundtrack to the movie!
Posted 11 years ago by LPCity    [ Reply ]
I could've sworn this was Little Feat
Posted 11 years ago by skyguy    [ Reply ]
Life is indeed a carnival. {#Propeller} 10!
Posted 11 years ago by gatorade    [ Reply ]