Ghost songs for Halloween

A couple of spooky ghost songs for you. 

In my ramblings on seeing Genesis Live (Turn It On Again, 28 October) I mentioned how fond I've become of Home By The Sea. The song dates from the band's transitional era moving from prog towards  more conventional pop/rock. It doesn't sound spooky - it's catchy with a singalong chorus and an addictive keyboard hook. But the song is about a burglar who breaks into a house only to feel something isn't quite right:

Then out of the dark was suddenly heard
Welcome to the home by the sea

Comin' out the woodwork through the open door
Pushing from above and below
Shadows but no substance in the shape of men
Round and down and sideways, they go
Adrift without direction, eyes that hold despair
Then as one they sign and they moan

Help us, someone, let us out of here
Living here so long undisturbed
Dreaming of the time, we were free
So many years ago
Before the time when we first heard
Welcome to the home by the sea

Aha. So the burglar isn't the first to find the house is haunted...and he gets an invitation he can't refuse:

Sit down, sit down
As we relive our lives in what we tell you
Let us relive our lives in what we tell you

Sit down, sit down, sit down
'Cause you won't get away
No, with us you will stay
For the rest of your days

Clever but spooky. You can hear the song on youtube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6d7VeYvdQ   

On the album and in the live show it's followed by Second Home By The Sea, an extended prog style instrumental, eventually returning to the original theme in a combined eleven minute single piece.

Home By The Sea reminds me of another clever ghost song, by Roy Harper and Dave Gilmour. Gilmour gave the music for Hope to both Roy and Pete Townshend hoping one would come up with lyrics he liked for use on one of his solo albums. Both had a go, Gilmour didn't take them up and both released versions of the song. I can see why he didn't as neither has a Gilmour feel (as the riff doesn't, to be honest). Townshend's is called White City Fighting, which really doesn't sound very Gilmour at all, though he did play on the track. 

Like Home By The Sea Harper's Hope also doesn't sound spooky with a vigorous guitar run from Jimmy Page driving through much of the song apart from a quieter middle section. It's a take on the feeling we all have of looking in the mirror and thinking we've seen a ghost, or at least a person we don't recognise anymore. Except in this song the first person is the ghost looking out of the mirror, not the one looking in:

But when the winds blow
From this direction
You may sense me there
In your reflection...

When I caught you there
In tomorrow's mirror
I thought felt you
Jump out of my skin
Throwing oil into
My blazing memories
Filling empty footsteps
I was standing in
I wanted to live forever
The same as you will too
I wanted to live forever
And everybody knew

I love that lyric "I thought I felt you jump out of my skin" and the following lines, very graphic and imaginative. So where does Roy take it now the ghost is in your skin? Well, as is often the case with Roy's songs it eventually turns to making out under the duvet or in the long grass:

She moves her body
And her whispers weave
And the world spins
And tells me that I'll never want to leave

Although on the face of it the burglar's fate in Home By The Sea is spookier, the thought of the ghost in the mirror joining you for three in a bed is pretty spooky too. But Harper's lyrics are poetic and therefore there are layers of meaning (and obscurity) the hint being "when I caught you there in tomorrow's mirror". So Roy is a ghost from the past looking at someone in the future. The song ends in a kindly way, on a positive note:

As I think of you
From this dark century
It must always be
With generosity
That we both may share
The hope in hearing
That we're not just
Spirits disappearing

Roy is implying that we humans want to leave an impression on the future, to be known to have lived and made the world a better place, living on in our DNA strands and culture we have passed on. And, in that way, forever tied to the planet, not just "spirits disappearing" into some imaginary afterlife (Harper being deeply irreligious). In other words, living forever. So the song is even more complex than it appears at first sight - a very thoughtful kind of "spooky".

You can also hear Roy, Dave and Jimmy's song on youtube, at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iQsyf-Dhnw 

Enjoy Halloween!