Released: March 31, 2017

Songwriter: Nelly Furtado

Producer: John Congleton

[Verse 1]
If you spend enough cash at the carnival games
You'll have a prize in your hand when you walk away
It'll slip through your fingers and you'll never know
What winning's really like, at all
I stayed here too long, now it's in my soul
And when the thunder rolls, I've got nowhere to go
I keep going round on this carousel
Because it spins me so well

[Pre-Chorus]
And I'll stay with you just a little while
There's so much for us to see and do
But don't mistake this for
An adventure in paradise
Just because the ride looks so good

[Chorus]
Carnival games are so much fun to play
Hard to just walk away from
When all you want are pretty things
But the price you pay is always too much
I'll never dry up these tears
Cried from all the years of playing carnival games

[Verse 2]
To know which way to look, all the shiny lights
Sign your name on the postcard of your life
And everyone will say that you came and conquered
Yeah, you won the whole race

[Pre-Chorus]
But don't mistake this for
An adventure in paradise
Just because the ride looks so good

[Chorus]
Carnival games are so much fun to play
Hard to just walk away from
When all you want are pretty things
But the price you pay is always too much
I'll never dry up these tears
Cried from all the years of playing carnival games
Carnival games

[Bridge]
I wanna shed all of my skin
Feel my blood as it tastes the wind
I don't know where to begin

[Chorus]
Carnival games are so much fun to play
Hard to just walk away from
When all you want are pretty, pretty things
You can't walk away once you play the game
You can't get back what you paid from all the years
Of playing carnival games, carnival games

[Outro]
You'll never really know what
You'll never really know what winning's like
You'll never really know what
You'll never really know what winning's like
You'll never really know what
You'll never really know what winning's like
You'll never really know what
You'll never really know what winning's like

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Portuguese-Canadian singer and songwriter. The songstress is well-known for hits such as “I’m Like a Bird”, “Turn Off the Light”, and “Promiscuous”.

She began her career in 1996 contributing vocals to Plains of Fascination’s “Walkin' 4 The Streets” and forming Nelstar. After leaving the group, Furtado released her debut single “Party’s Just Begun (Again)”.

Her debut album Whoa! Nelly was released in 2000 to worldwide success with hits such as “I’m Like a Bird”, “Turn Off the Light”, and “…On the Radio (Remember the Days)”. It received four Grammy nominations and one of the singles won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It’s sold nine-million copies worldwide to date. Folklore is Furtado’s second album released in 2003. The album was not as successful as the previous one due to change in sound. “Try” and “Powerless (Say What You Want)” were the only top-ten hits from the album.