Slim Dusty - Joe Palmer's Ghost lyrics

rate me

Joe Palmer was a duffer in the nineties,

He was hanged away Roma way,

But they say his ghost still comes back cattle duffin',

On the anniversary of his hangin' day.

For often he been sighted drovin' cattle

Through the timber on that same long winter's night,

He always rides upon a snow white stallion,

And always wears a suit of milky white.

Oh many is the ringer's blood thats curdled,

And many is the hair turned white with fright,

To see Joe Palmer and his ghost white stallion,

Appear from out of no-where in the night.

His tracks disappears far down a valley,

The same one where poor Joe Palmer died,

But no-one never ventures down that valley,

An' they say there's no way out the other side.

But I know the secret of that valley,

The same secret old Joe Palmer knew,

There's a cave run through the far wall of the valley,

Where old Joe pushed the stolen cattle through.

Now I steal stock from the western runs in Queensland,

And sell'em through the sale yards on the coast,

And no one's ever even tried to catch me,

For they blame it all on poor Joe Palmer's ghost.

Now sometimes on a night camp out in Queensland,

When someone tells the yarn of Palmer's ghost,

I fancy someones laughing close beside me,

And I know it must be old Joe Palmers ghost.

Now I steal stock from the western runs in Queensland,

And sell'em through the sale yards on the coast,

And no one's ever even tried to catch me,

For they blame it all on poor Joe Palmer's ghost.

For they blame it all on poor Joe Palmer's ghost.

[From his album: "Just Slim With Old Friends"

Transcribed: Marten Busstra 2011]