Driving along through a cool evening rain

Memories rise like steam from the land

Tattered posters hanging from abandoned trains

Telling me a circus close at hand

I’ll be ridin’ with the ghost of Emmett Kelly

Two sad jokers lost in the night        

But Emmett, he knows more than the next guy

He was sweeping sorrow softly toward the light

At the circus roustabouts scramble across the midway

Harsh voices barking orders, assigning chores

Shoulders heave and arms tighten against the weight

Workers toil while the stars saunter through the doors

I am ridin’ with the ghost of Emmett Kelly

Two sad jokers lost in the night

But Emmett he knows more than the next guy

He was sweeping sorrow softly toward the light

The night’s when I lose my line

When I leave reason behind

And a strange surreal ballet

Carries me – – – – away

Guy lines rise from stakes to the tent tops

A roughneck cathedral is framed against the sky

There’s catechism in the banter and the tough talk                     

Where salvation means just a better way of getting by

‘Cause I am ridin’ with the ghost of Emmett Kelly

Two sad jokers lost in the night 

But Emmett he knows more than the next guy

He was sweeping sorrow softly toward the light

Driving off in the pre-dawn humid gray

There’s always more reasons to go than there are to stay

When the sun rises cracked in my rear-view mirror

I’ll surrender night’s illusions to the real of day

But I was ridin’ with the ghost of Emmett Kelly

Two sad jokers lost in the night 

But Emmett he knows more than the next guy

He was sweeping sorrow softly toward the light

Toward the light

Toward the light

Toward the light