The Carnie’s show is in town..
With its neon blinding shining lights
It’s got a one-legged stripper, a drunken clown…
The bloke who works the fancy dodgems
He jumps with grace from car to car
The electricity sparks the flame when the hanging wire touches wire
The view on top this ferris wheel
is the best view in all of town
Hymn for the Carnies is the second song to feature here from My Friend the Chocolate Cake’s sixth studio album Home Improvements released in 2007. A Carnie, also spelt ‘carny’ is an informal term used for a travelling carnival employee.
It is a beautiful song and set to a moving video below with the laughing clowns’ attendant at Circus Oz. You get the sense of how one’s time will be spent as a circus employee. Then suddenly out of the dark, a lady approaches with her child. This song is a nice couplet to Springsteen’s Wild Billy’s Circus Story, but the Cake’s version is a bit of a come down from the ‘live wire’ act and that’s just how it goes.
Anyone who is familiar with my blog will know what a huge fan I am of this Melbourne band and founder David Bridie. They have featured here a bucket load, so I would point you to my numerous posts on them for more information.
The band’s heady compositions swing between celebratory, gypsy-like romps and introspective ballads, with Bridie’s lyrics and voice often the icing on the Cake. His voice in Hymn for the Carnies carries a pensive and evocative tone, weaving nostalgia as he brings the circus to life. The song immerses the listener in the atmosphere and characters of the carnival. It’s one of those songs I never tire of hearing. It’s unfortunate that the lyrics are not available for this song.
My Friend the Chocolate Cake were formed initially as an acoustic side project in 1989 by David Bridie on vocals, piano, harmonium and keyboards and Helen Mountfort on cello and backing vocals. Bridie and Mountfort were members of an ambient, world music ensemble Not Drowning, Waving who have featured here as well. My Friend the Chocolate Cake took their name from a song title by an obscure Sydney band, Ya Ya Choral. Bridie admitted that one reason they chose an all-acoustic act was so they did not have to carry around amplifiers.
References:
1. Sydney Morning Herald – My Friend the Chocolate Cake
2. My Friend The Chocolate Cake – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
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