← more from
Magna Carta Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Carnival

from Shapeshifter by Tempest

/

about

Carnival (Sorbye/Reynolds)
“Co-written with my wife Patricia, this mythology-based piece is about a man who falls in love with a Carnival woman who is a shapeshifter. The song inspired the album’s title and is the first acoustic piece we’ve recorded in a very long time. It also represents the shapeshifting nature of album in that we wanted to make it as diverse as possible.”

lyrics

I walked alone one early evening
‘Long the gilded road from town
And in the vivid cold of dusk
The Winter carnival came down

As they passed I heard them whisper
I watched the passing ships unfurl
Soft they drifted toward the village
And in the wagon was a girl

Days flew past, the laughter rising
From the camp that bordered town
Here and there I glimpsed her beauty
Burning like a stolen crown

No one could I ever want so dearly
No one have I ever wanted near

Gentle people walk the evening
Troll the carnival’s delight
But I can only haunt the grounds
For blue-eyed woman, hair of night

Colored cloth and smoky darkness
I move into the shadowed camp
From the folds of foreign fabric
The face of love beneath a lamp

And we away into the blackness
Cold forgotten, night too still
And crushing frozen blades of grass
We made our pact on yonder hill

I Woke at dawn upon the hillside
A solitary man undone
The music of the wagons fading
Lost to me my only one

No one could I ever love so dearly
No one would I ever love so dear
No one could I ever love so dearly
No one would I ever love so dear

Vision clearing as I followed
And watching from the trailing dray
Sleek and black, a sultry feline
Blue eyes brighter than the day

Water-eyed with midnight coat
My sense had vanished with my hat
From in the wagon, Tattooed Man
And he took up the shining cat

Walked alone one golden evening
'Long the dusty road from town
And in the vivid cold of sunset
A winter Carnival came down

credits

from Shapeshifter, released May 20, 2003

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Tempest image

Tempest Oakland, California

contact / help

Contact Tempest

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Tempest, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now