The Carnival Is Over

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"The Carnival is Over" was written by Tom Springfield for the Australian group The Seekers, and The Seekers close their concerts with with the song. At its peak, the song was selling 93,000 copies per day and is No 30 of the biggest selling singles of all time.

"The Carnival is Over", being sung by The Seekers, has also become a tradition to close some of the special events within Australia.

"The Carnival is Over" was sung, by The Seekers Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley (with singer Julie Anthony taking the place of Judith Durham), at the very end of the Expo '88 Closing Ceremony.

The Seekers were supposed to have sung "The Carnival is Over" at the end of the closing ceremony for the Sydney Olympic Games, except that Judith Durham had broken her hip and was not able to take part, so the song was cancelled for the Sydney Olympics — however, the Seekers sang the song at the conclusion of the 2000 Summer Paralympics, with Judith Durham seated in a wheelchair.

The tradition of the song being sung at conclusions of special celebrations in Australia is so well-known, in fact, that the cast of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation comedy series The Games, which was about the, then, forthcoming Sydney 2000 Olympics, spoofed (imitated) the group singing "The Carnival is Over" at the 'opening ceremony' of 'their' version of the Sydney Olympic Games.

Preceded by "Get off of My Cloud" by Rolling Stones

UK number one single "The Carnival Is Over" by The Seekers November 25, 1965 (3 weeks)

Succeeded by "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out" by The Beatles