Day: October 25, 2020

I really like that Jim Adams of Song Lyric Sunday Challenge gives us plenty of notice about each Sunday’s prompts. Today it’s season appropriate Ghost/Pumpkin/Trick/Treat/Witch. I’m not someone who celebrates Halloween though I will leave out some home-made treats for the neighbourhood kids who’ll drop by.

I’m going with “Ghosts” a song by English band Japan which was released in March 1982 as the third single from their 1981 album Tin Drum. It reached number 5 in the UK charts.

Bereft of drums, the minimalist track would probably not be described as a commercially viable single in most circumstances. However, Japan’s popularity in the UK at the time, in addition to the early 1980s fashion for new wave music, allowed the single to become unexpectedly popular. Smash Hits magazine described the single as:

……….arguably the best thing Japan have ever done – slow, spare and mesmerising.

Record Mirror made it Single of the Week and described it as:

……..the most stunningly original single you’ve heard for a long time.

Japan were an English new wave band formed in 1974 in Catford, South London by David Sylvian (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steve Jansen (drums) and Mick Karn (bass guitar), joined by Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Rob Dean (lead guitar) the following year. Initially an alternative glam rock-inspired band, Japan developed their sound and androgynous look to incorporate electronic music and foreign influences, eventually becoming an influence on the UK’s early-1980s New Romantic scene, though the band themselves were not a part of it.

Japan achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, releasing nine UK Top 40 hits and scoring a UK Top 5 with the live album Oil on Canvas (1983). The band split in December 1982, just as they were beginning to experience commercial success in the UK and abroad. Its members went on to pursue other musical projects, though they reformed briefly in the early 1990s under the name Rain Tree Crow, releasing an album in 1991.

Lyrics: Ghosts

When the room is quiet
The daylight almost gone
It seems there’s something I should know
Well I ought to leave but the rain it never stops
And I’ve no particular place to go

Just when I think I’m winning
When I’ve broken every door
The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind

Well I’m feeling nervous
Now I find myself alone
The simple life’s no longer there
Once I was so sure
Now the doubt inside my mind
Comes and goes but leads nowhere

Just when I think I’m winning
When I’ve broken every door
The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind

Just when I think I’m winning
When I’ve broken every door
The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind

Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Writer/s: David Sylvian
Publisher: MUSIC SALES CORPORATION

Challenge Rules

• Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not. If it does not fit, then please explain why you chose this song.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
• Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
• Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to Jim’s post or place your link in his comments section.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Most of all, have fun and enjoy the music.