Carnival Bum - Joe Ely

The carnival is closed for the winter

The gates are full of nails

All my belongings in a camper truck

In front of some hellhole motel

The rides are wrapped in canvass

There's a smell of snow in the air

They're taking apart the Ferris wheel

Like a game of solitaire

Love oh love I will be home

When the trees are bare and brown

For without you I'm just a carnival bum

Whose fate goes round and round

Whose fate goes round and round

When little Maggie lost Big Earle

Man that was about it for her

She was MIA in the day to day

The next three years were a blur

I left home when Maggie checked out

I been a snowbird ever since

I work the circuit in the summertime

Come winter I jump the fence

Love oh love I will be home

When the trees are bare and brown

For without you I'm just a carnival bum

Whose fate goes round and round

Whose fate goes round and round

Darkness comes with the headlights

It gives me a little relief

I feel a little more like a leaf in the wind

And a little bit less like a thief

Sometimes I feel I stole life itself

I'm as lucky as a man can be

The carnival is closed for the winter

But it don't matter to me

Love oh love I will be home

When the trees are bare and brown

For without you I'm just a carnival bum

Whose fate goes round and round

Whose fate goes round and round

Love oh love I will be home

When the trees are bare and brown

For without you I'm just a carnival bum

Whose fate goes round and round

Whose fate goes round and round

Love oh love I will be home

Love oh love I will be home

Love oh love I will be home