"Ghost"

 

 

“I keep going to the river to pray.” The widely popular song Ghost by the British singer/songwriter is unique in that it doesn’t sound like your typical pop song. Ella’s voice through this song has a soulful tone to it. The style of this song is on point.  I believe there are different ways, through the lyrics, to interrupt the meaning of this song.

This song, through the lyrics and the sound, has dark overtones to it. The song is portraying your past with someone haunting you because the thought of them is in your mind, and won’t let go. There is nothing, no matter how hard you try, that can make the thought of them disappear.

The ghost is a symbol of the person who once had you and now only has your mind. The lyrics say, “I’m sleeping all these demons away. But your ghost, the ghost of you, it keeps me awake.”

I believe it’s hard for her to let the memories with this person vanish because she truly was in love. She sings, “Oh you never told me true love was gonna hurt. True pain, it’s own desert.” She’s now left alone with only the ghost of him to face.

It’s almost like she’s not willing to let the memory of him fade because her feelings towards their relationship are still very real. She sings, “Each time that I think you go, I turn around and you’re creeping in, And I let you another skin, Cause I love living in the sin.”  She fell in love with the wrong person and because she didn’t listen to wise advice, she learns the hard way.  

The story in this music video is so unique in how it portrays the message of someone’s ghost haunting you.  The music video opens with a young frantic guy in the woods at night that is running away. He doesn’t know what step to take next.  His girlfriend just died and there are police after him. However, I don’t believe he killed her. There are flashbacks of them together and they are happy. The young guy, near the end, is confronted with an older man in a hotel room that I believe represents him. I don’t think he ever gets over her. Therefore, the ghost of her never stops haunting him, even to his old age.

The song ghost written by Ella Henderson and Ryan Tedder (lead singer for One Republic) is a song with lyrics that people can relate to. Listeners can relate the “ghost” in the song to someone, something or anything relatable to their life situations.