"The Carnival Is Over", written by Tom Springfield, for the Australian folk pop group the Seekers is based on a Russian folk song from circa 1883, adapted with original English-language lyrics.
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 with sales of at least 1.41 million copies in the UK alone.[2] The single spent three weeks at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart in November and December 1965.[3]
The song also topped the Australian charts (for six weeks, from 4 December 1965),[4] and reached No.1 in the Irish Charts for two weeks.