"Carnival" is a 1995 song written and produced by singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant and was the lead single from her debut solo album Tigerlily. The single was released to U.S. airwaves in the summer of 1995 and went straight to the number 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, thus becoming her highest-charting solo single. The single received a radio edit cutting the song down from the six-minute LP version. In the lyrics, the protagonist compares the many colorful sights and sounds of day-to-day life in New York City to a carnival.