"On a Carousel" is a song written by Allan Clarke, Graham Nash and Tony Hicks. It was released by The Hollies as a single in February 1967, having been recorded the previous month, on the Parlophone label in the UK and Imperial in the US. Nash would opine: "'On a Carousel' was one of the Hollies' best songs. It's a pop song with an infectious chorus, but flirts with gorgeous shifts in rhythmic texture [that keep] the melody from becoming predictable. And the lyric captures the essence of young love without the usual moon-and-June cliches. We knew it was a hit from the get-go."

Nash would recall that prior to "On a Carousel": "our biggest hits were Graham Gouldman songs...Tony, Allan and I wanted desperately to write a monster A-side...We thought we were good enough writers, we knew the combination, how to come up with a universal theme, the right kind of hook. So we went through a shitload of ideas until inspiration struck. I'm not sure which of the three of us came up with funfairs...We [realized] a love affair was pretty much like going round and round and round on a carousel. And before we knew it the song just took shape. It was all there, the words, the tune, there was no stopping it. And Tony and Bobby [Elliott] wrapped it up in an exceptional arrangement."

"On a Carousel" was the Hollies first A-side in which Graham Nash sings lead vocals, although only for the first few lines. "On a Carousel" was the Hollies' second-to-last single in the US to be released by Imperial before the band switched to the Epic label. The song was a hit in the UK, peaking at #4 on the single charts and in Canada it made #7 in the RPM Magazine charts. It was also a moderate hit in the United States, peaking at #11 on the Billboard chart.

American power pop band Glass Moon had a Top 50 hit in 1982 with their remake of "On a Carousel" introduced on the group's second studio album Growing in the Dark recorded in 1981. Group frontman Dave Adams would recall that during the period that the band was still rehearsing songs for the album in Raleigh he'd been cleaning out a closet at his home and come across a copy of The Best of the Hollies which he'd purchased at a yard sale: after playing Side One Adams was especially struck by "On a Carousel" which he considered "catchy but not very well recorded or produced...almost as it was a rush job in the studio". Over the next week Adams found himself singing "On a Carousel" around the house: "it just felt good to sing. It was in a perfect range for me, so I thought if we could make it a polished production it would fit in well with the [original] songs [intended] for the [upcoming] album" for which one more song was still needed: Adams brought the song to his group's next rehearsal: "we worked up my new arrangement straightaway. Jamie" - ie. Jamie Glaser, the virtuoso session guitarist who played on the Glass Moon albums - "came to rehearse with us...the following week and he loved the song too." The following week the band left for New York City to record their second album at Electric Lady Studios: group member Chris Jones had met Ian Lloyd who was contributing background vocals to the 4 album which Foreigner was recording at Electric Lady, and Lloyd was recruited to contribute background vocals to the Glass Moon recording of "On a Carousel".

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