You know you're not a strong man
And you're just about to cry
Hang on, hang on
It's all right, it's all right
You worry about the future
Sign said, "Yoga class for cats"
It's okay, it's okay
It's no fun
You're frustrated by the cracks in
The pavement
And every mother's back
Once again
The carnival closed down
But if this world would ever turn around
And the dynamite is waiting
Cause they bankrupted the sky
It's okay, it's okay
It's no fun
You're frustrated by the cracks in
The pavement
And every mother's back
Once again
The carnival closed down
But if this world would ever turn around
Break your mother's back
If you step on the cracks
And everybody has
You're frustrated by the cracks in
The pavement
And every mother's back
Once again
The carnival closed down
But if this world would ever turn around
You'll be there when everyone is sane
You'll be there when everyone is sane
You'll be there when everyone is sane
You'll be there when everyone is sane
You'll be there
Every mother's back
Closed down
The carnival closed down
Hang on
Hang on
Arnold Lanni, Canadian Musician, 1997:
We sent Duncan and Jeremy out with some portable DAT machines. They went everywhere for a couple of days, from outdoor carnivals to indoor malls and airports and hotel lobbies -- just to get as many different sounds as possible. They brought it in, we assembled it all and towards the end, Mike put some on his computer (utilizing CakeWalk). I put some on my computer (a SADIE workstation), and we assembled it and just flew it into the recording. We also had other things. The next door neighbour at my studio operates a machine shop, so one day I sent Mike over to tape this huge machine punching a hole through metal, and we slowed it down and you hear it in ever verse just underneath the snare.
Arnold Lanni, Words and Music, July 1997:
We didn't want to go overboard, and let them play a lead part, but sometimes we couldn't get what we wanted from the guitar or bass, so we created a sound that conveyed a color. For Carnival I sent Duncan and Jeremy out to get atmospheric sounds. They took a portable DAT machine and went to several malls and places where they had Ferris wheels and lots of kids. I even had Jeremy playing hub caps and coffee tins.
Mike Turner, Maximum Guitar, Nov. 1997:
I don't even remember playing [the scary little guitar lick].
Mike Turner & Duncan Coutts, Canoe, 29 Nov. 1997:
Mike: There's actually a cool story with how it happened. We sort of sequestered ourselves in a cottage in northern Toronto to write this record. We did it by leaving a tape running, we had a cassette machine and a microphone in there, we just left it running. The cottage is also pretty seriously haunted. I know that says all granola and groovy.
Duncan: It's never been haunted before.
Mike: Coutts family cottage, so he's still complaining about it. Jeremy saw stuff.
Duncan: I saw stuff. Jeremy was playing with a Ouija board.
Mike: Which was stupid, stupid!
Duncan: I only did it once before. I was with a bunch of people and they asked "is this a good spirit or a bad spirit" and simultaneously all the candles in the room blow out. I'm like, I'm never touching a wee gee board again. So Jeremy buys a Ouija board to bring up to the cottage. He's like "I want a bad spirit, I want a bad spirit." He literally went into this trance 6 hours later and some really weird things happened. We were sifting through the tape a couple days later.
Mike: We were going back through the tape and I heard that (hums the strange melody) and everybody's like, ewww!
Duncan: Where did that come from?
Mike: No one remembered playing it. It was like "did anyone remember this? What were we working on when this happen?" Basically that section was almost complete. The song sprang out of that pretty quickly, it has that vibe. We tried to keep that kind of dark, semi-twisted vibe to it.
Duncan: It's just got one of those cool vibes too it, it'll always be a weird song for us.