The members of The Band first worked together as The Hawks, the backing band of rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins from 1959 until 1963. Afterwards, Bob Dylan recruited the quintet for his history-making 1965/1966 world tour and they joined him on the informal recordings that became the acclaimed Basement Tapes.
Dubbed "The Band" by their peers, the group left the comfort of their communal home in Saugerties, NY to begin recording as a group unto themselves. The Band recorded two of the most important albums of the late 1960s: their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink (featuring the hit single "The Weight") and 1969's The Band. These critically praised albums helped conceive country rock as something more than a genre, but rather as a celebration of "Americana." As such, throughout their career they would repopularize traditional American musical forms during the psychedelic era. The Band dissolved in 1976; Martin Scorcese's landmark concert film "The Last Waltz" documented their final performance. They reformed in 1983 without founding guitarist and main songwriter Robbie Robertson.
Although always more popular with music journalists and fellow musicians than the general public, The Band has remained an admired and influential group. They have been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Their music fused many elements: primarily old country music and early rock and roll, though the rhythm section often had a bouncy, funky punch reminiscent of Stax or Motown, and Robertson cites Curtis Mayfield and the Staple Singers as major influences. At its best, however, The Band's music was an organic synthesis of many musical genres which became more than the sum of its parts. The group's songwriting was also remarkable as, unlike much earlier rock and roll, and following upon the example set previously by The Byrds, very few of their early compositions were based on conventional blues and doo-wop chord changes.
The Band comprised Robbie Robertson (guitar); Richard Manuel (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone); Garth Hudson (organ, piano, clavinet, accordion, synthesizer, saxophone); Rick Danko (bass guitar, violin, trombone); and Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar) Excepting Robertson, all were multi-instrumentalists; each person's primary instrument is listed first. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could offer all manner of subtle aural colors and textures to enhance songs. Hudson in particular was able to coax an impressive range of timbres from his Lowrey electronic organ; on the choruses of "Tears of Rage", for example, it sounds startlingly like a mellotron. Helm's drumming was rarely flashy, but he was often praised for his subtlety and funkiness. Critic Jon Carroll famously declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummer Jim Keltner admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques.
Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to The Band: Helm's gritty, southern voice had more than a hint of country, Danko sang in a soaring, unfettered tenor, and Manuel alternated between fragile falsetto and a wounded baritone. The singers regularly blended in unorthodox, but uncommonly effective harmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared between the three men, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as the Band's "lead" singer.
Robertson was the unit's chief songwriter (though he sang lead vocals on only three or four songs in The Band's career). This role, and Robertson's resulting claim to the copyright of most of the compositions, would become a point of much antipathy between the group's members, especially between Robertson and Helm.
Producer John Simon is cited as a "sixth member" of The Band for producing and playing on Music from Big Pink, co-producing and playing on The Band, and playing on other songs up through The Band's 1993 reunion album Jericho.
On 10 December 1999 is when Rick Danko died in his sleep at age 56. He had been a long-time drug user. In 1997 he had been found guilty of trying to smuggle heroin into Japan. He told the presiding judge that he had begun using the drug (together with prescription morphine) to fight life-long pain resulting from a 1968 auto accident. No drugs were found in his system at the time of his death. Following the death of Rick Danko, The Band broke up for good.
Levon Helm died on 19 April 2012 from complications of throat cancer.
Life Is A Carnival
The Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Drown in the sand
You can fly off a mountaintop
If anybody can
Run away, run away (run away, run away)
It's the restless age
Look away, look away (look away, look away)
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 a jinx
In the third degree
From trying to deal with people
People, you can't see
Take away, take away (take away, take away)
This house of mirrors
Give away, give away (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
Life is a carnival
Life is a carnival
Life is a carnival
The Band's song "Life Is A Carnival" explores the chaotic nature of life and how we are all just trying to navigate through it. The opening lines speak to the contradictory nature of life - we can walk on water and drown in sand, or fly off a mountaintop if we have the skill. The chorus - "Life is a carnival, believe it or not, life is a carnival, two bits a shot" - encapsulates this idea that life is an unpredictable, wild ride that we can either embrace or try to run away from.
The second verse introduces a street vendor trying to sell watches, which serves as an allegory for the ways in which we try to distract ourselves from the precariousness of life. The following lines speak to the struggle of dealing with people we can't understand or connect with, and the way that the world can feel like a house of mirrors that we are trapped in. The final verse acknowledges that we are all in the same boat, trying to survive in a world that can feel flat and meaningless.
Line by Line Meaning
You can walk on the water
You can do anything you put your mind to
Drown in the sand
You can also fail no matter how hard you try
You can fly off a mountaintop
You can achieve the impossible
If anybody can
If you have the inner strength to do it
Run away, run away (run away, run away)
Escaping from reality
It's the restless age
A time of turmoil and change
Look away, look away (look away, look away)
Avoiding the truth
You can turn the page
Starting anew
Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap?
The temptation of material wealth and quick fixes
Here on the street
In the midst of the chaos of life
I got six on each arm
The abundance of goods and distractions
And two more 'round my feet
The danger of being weighed down by possessions
Life is a carnival
Life is full of ups and downs
Believe it or not
It's hard to comprehend
Two bits a shot
We all pay the price for living
Saw a man with a jinx
Witnessing the effects of bad luck
In the third degree
Experiencing the full force
From trying to deal with people
Frustration with the complexity of human nature
People, you can't see
Not understanding others fully
Take away, take away (take away, take away)
Removing the illusions of life
This house of mirrors
The distorted view of reality we often have
Give away, give away (give away, give away)
Letting go of material possessions
All the souvenirs
The memories of past experiences
We're all in the same boat ready to float
We are all in this life journey together
Off the edge of the world
Heading towards the unknown future
The flat old world
The mundanity of everyday life
The street is a sideshow
The spectacle of life
From the peddler to the corner girl
From the common person to the exotic
It's in the book
The meaning of life is written somewhere
Take another look
See things with fresh eyes
Life is a carnival
Life is a mix of emotions and experiences
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Mark Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@arpitirpanci
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
Life is a carnival
Life is a carnival
Life is a carnival
@coryfischer6529
love this song
@1guitbox1
awesome tune from the Band ! RIP Rick , Levon and Richard .
@terryblankenshipmusic1322
And now Robbie
@paultaylor7082
Count the different horns on this song.
Allen Toussaint the arranger at his finest. A great album from 1971
@xavieracoleman9964
This is top level songwriting!
@kaychristensen4394
THE BAND!!!!!!!!! Such a great tune!
@LucasLima-lc7yb
Guardians of the Galaxy: We have the best playlist ever.
Carole and Tuesday: Hold my beer
@matrixrevolution1460
Hold my keyboard/guitar
@FandomFrenzy
Y e s
@FandomFrenzy
@@matrixrevolution1460 haha That fits so wel