The Carnival Is Over


"The Carnival Is Over" is a Russian folk song Из-за острова на стрежень about Stenka Razin first published circa 1883, adapted with English-language lyrics, written by Tom Springfield, for the Australian folk pop group The Seekers in 1965. The song became The Seekers' signature recording, and the band have customarily closed their concerts with it ever since its success in late-1965. At its 1965 sales peak, The Seekers' single was selling 93,000 copies per day in the UK and is No.30 in the chart of the biggest-selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom, with sales of at least 1.41 million copies in the UK alone. The track spent three weeks at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart in November and December 1965.
The song also topped the Australian charts, and reached No.1 in the Irish Charts for two weeks.

Chart performance (The Seekers)

Chart Peak
position
Australia Kent Music Report1
Ireland IRMA1
UK Singles Chart1
South Africa2
Norway VG-lista3
Dutch Single Top 1005
Singapore5
Malaysia6
New Zealand RIANZ8
German Musikmarkt14

The music

The main tune is taken from a Russian song about the Cossack ataman Stepan Razin known as "Iz-za ostrova na strezhen" or "Volga, Volga mat' rodnaya" which became popular in Russia as early as the 1890s.
There is a resemblance in the tune, tempo and emotional appeal to the iconic Welsh song Myfanwy, by Joseph Parry, written earlier, though the Russian folklore possibly predates them both.
The original lyrics of the song, written in 1883 by the poet and Povolzhye region ethnographer Dmitry Sadovnikov to a folk melody, told about an episode of the 1670–1671 Russian Peasant Uprising in which Stepan Razin allegedly killed his captive, a beautiful Persian Princess, by throwing her into the water from his boat. According to the Dutch traveller Jean Jansen Struys, the murder was meant as a sacrifice with which Razin hoped to appease the much loved and feared Volga River. Sadovnikov in his text adds another motive: Razin's gesture is addressed to his disgruntled jealous comrades who accuse him of "mellowing down" after just one night spent with a woman.
The lyrics of the song were dramatized in the first Russian narrative film, Stenka Razin directed by Vladimir Romashkov in 1908. The song also gave the title to the famous 1938 Soviet musical comedy Volga-Volga. It was performed by the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra during their 1967 tour of Australia. The tune is also used in a Dutch hymn "Vol Verwachting Blijf Ik Uitzien", and a Dutch nursery rhyme "Aan de Oever van de Rotte". It is played in a cafe scene in the 1988 film The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Tom Springfield adapted the melody from the Russian folk song, and also wrote the lyrics, after a trip to Brazil, where he witnessed the Carnival in Rio.
The melody is played repeatedly in an early episode of TV series "The Twilight Zone" – Season 1 Episode 3, entitled "Mr. Denton On Doomsday", first aired in 1959. It also can be heard briefly in a scene from Sam Peckinpah's film "Cross of Iron".

Use in popular culture

The playing of "The Carnival Is Over", sung by The Seekers, has been sometimes used at the close of special events in Australia. It was performed at the Expo '88 closing ceremony, with Julie Anthony taking the place of Judith Durham, along with the other members of The Seekers, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.
The song was played at the end of The Seekers' August 1968 BBC-TV finale special. In the lead-up to the song, Athol Guy announced in a choked voice "I'm afraid that tonight the carnival really is over".
The Seekers were supposed to have performed the song at the end of the closing ceremony for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney but the performance was cancelled after Judith Durham broke her hip. The Seekers did, however, sing the song at the conclusion of the 2000 Summer Paralympics, with Judith Durham seated in a wheelchair.
The tradition of the song's being sung at conclusion of special celebrations in Australia is so well entrenched that the cast of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation comedy series The Games, which was about the forthcoming Sydney 2000 Olympics, imitated the group singing "The Carnival Is Over" at the closing ceremony of their fictitious version of the Sydney Olympic Games.
The Russian sung tune recurred in Season 1, Episode 3 of the TV series The Twilight Zone.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' version

covered the song on their 1986 album Kicking Against The Pricks. This cover featured in the final episode and scene of the Australian TV Series Underbelly, based on the Melbourne gangland killings when Senior Constable Steve Owen arrested Carl Williams for murder.

Boney M. version

"The Carnival Is Over " / "Going Back West" is a double A-side single by German band Boney M.. It replaced a cancelled third single release of a re-recording of the song "Jimmy" from the group's fifth studio album Boonoonoonoos. "The Carnival Is Over" was the first single release after dancer Bobby Farrell's departure and introduced new male singer Reggie Tsiboe in the line-up. Despite reaching #11 in the Swiss charts, the single was widely considered Boney M.'s first flop. After a string of 16 consecutive Top 20 singles in Germany, the single only climbed to #41 after a second pressing with a remix of "Going Back West" as the main A-side was sent out. "Going Back West", however, would become a hit single in South Africa where the group's popularity remained high in the early 1980s. Boney M. would use the double A-side format in this period, typically with the A1 being the song intended for radio and A2 being more squarely aimed at discos. The sides would usually be switched on the accompanying 12" single.

The Carnival Is Over (Goodbye True Lover)

Boney M.'s version of The Seekers' song was done in a low-key ballad arrangement and featured Liz Mitchell on lead vocal. An original verse by producer Frank Farian and lyricist Catherine Courage was added to introduce Reggie Tsiboe as a vocalist. In the early mix of the single, Liz Mitchell sings the answer-back line "Kiss me again" as opposed to the final mix where she sings "Our love is true". An edit was released in the UK and Japan where a part of the intro had been cut out. "The Carnival Is Over" was never included in any studio album by Boney M. and didn't appear on a compilation until 2000 when it was included on 25 Jaar Na Daddy Cool. The single edit was added as a bonus track to the remastered 2007 edition of Ten Thousand Lightyears.

Going Back West

The first song with new member Reggie Tsiboe on lead vocals was an uptempo cover version of a Jimmy Cliff track. An early mix had only vocal group La Mama on backing vocals. Several later mixes were released with Liz Mitchell's vocals added to the backing vocals and also producer Frank Farian singing a couple of lines. The 12" version was coupled with an edit of the track "Silly Confusion" from Boonoonoonoos.

Releases

7" Singles
12" Singles