Natalie Merchant - Carnival

Well I've walked these streets
A virtual stage it seemed to me
Makeup on their faces
Actors took their places next to me

Well I've walked these streets
In a carnival of sights to see
All the cheap thrill seekers
The vendors and the dealers they crowded around me

Have I been blind
Have I been lost inside myself and my own mind
Hypnotized mesmerized by what my eyes have seen

Well I've walked these streets
In a spectacle of wealth and poverty
In the diamond market
The scarlet welcome carpet that they just rolled out for me

And I've walked these streets
In the madhouse asylum they can be
Where a wild eyed misfit prophet on a traffic island stopped
And he raved of saving me

Have I been blind
Have I been lost inside myself and my own mind
Hypnotized mesmerized by what my eyes have seen

Have I been wrong
Have I been wise to shut my eyes and play along
Hypnotized paralyzed by what my eyes have found
By what my eyes have seen
What they have seen

Have I been blind
Have I been lost have I been wrong
Have I been wise have I been strong
Have I been hypnotized mesmerized
By what my eyes have found

In that great street carnival
In that carnival