Today’s Song of the Day is “The Circus” by Tyler Jay.
With Independence Day right around the corner, it felt right to shine the spotlight on a song by a veteran about the reality so many of us know all too well. I work with a lot of veteran singer-songwriters—and I’ve even tried my hand at writing a few songs that lean into that vibe—but Tyler Jay captured something here that I never quite managed to put into words.
“The Circus” hits different from a lot of the for-veteran-by-veteran tracks I’ve listened to.
From the production alone, you know you’re in for something special. The slow, fingerpicked chords roll out like a memory you’re not sure you’re ready to revisit. The subtle cymbal swells lift the chorus just enough—but I love how he keeps his vocals conversational, almost like he’s leaning across a table telling you a story he’s never told anyone.
And the analogy of the circus and clowns? Perfect. I think back to my own deployment days and yeah—sometimes it really did feel like a circus, and we were just clowns trying to keep the tent from collapsing. But the older I get, the more those memories shift. The what fades; it’s the who that sticks: the “clowns” I shared that time with.
There are lines in this song that stop me cold every time:
“I ain’t saying I’m some cowboy, but right now I’d go back again.”
Older me understands that in a way young me never could. Twenty years out, and I still catch myself thinking that maybe things made more sense back then. It’s not about machismo—it’s about knowing your place in the chaos, doing your job, and trusting that everyone around you is doing theirs. No fluff. No spin. Just the work and the people.
And then there’s this gut-punch of a line:
“They taught us how to be fearless men, and they turned us into liars.”
Man. That one lingers. I think about the things I did in my early 20s—jumping out of planes, IEDs, running toward the things you’re supposed to run away from—and I wonder where that fearless kid went. Life on the other side isn’t fearless at all. If anything, it’s where the fear really creeps in, and some of it isn’t explainable. That’s tough for the people around you to see—but it’s not their fault. Life’s about experiences, and that’s what makes us all so different!
Veteran or civilian, check it out if you haven’t heard it!
