I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Ghost,
Did you know sometimes it frightens me
when you say my name and I can't see you
will you ever learn to materialize before you speak
impetuous boy, if that's what you really are
how many centuries since you've climbed a balcony
or do you do this every night with someone else
you tell me that you never leave
and I am almost afraid to believe it
why is it me you've chosen to follow
did you like the way I look when I am sleeping
was my hair more fun to tangle
are my dreams more entertaining
do you laugh when I'm complaining that I'm all alone
where were you when I searched the sea
for a friend to talk to me
in a year where will you be
is it enough for you to steal into my mind
filling up my page with music written in my hand
you know I'll take the credit for I must have made you come to me somehow
but please try to close the curtains when you leave at night
or I'll have to find someone to stay and warm me
will you always attend my midnight tea parties
as long as I set your place
if one day your sugar sits untouched
will you have gone forever
would you miss me in a thousand years
when you will dry another's tears
but you say you'll never leave me
and I wonder if you'll have the decency
to pass through my wall to the next room
while I dress for dinner
but when I'm stuck in conversation
with stuffed shirts whose adoration
hurts my ears, where are you then
can't you cut in when I dance with other men
it's too late not to interfere with my life
you've already made me a most unsuitable wife
for any man who wants to be the first his bride has slept with
and you can't just fly into people's bedrooms
then expect them to calmly wave goodbye
you've changed the course of history
and didn't even try
where are you now
standing behind me
taking my hand
come and remind me
who you are
have you traveled far
are you made of stardust too
are the angels after you
tell me what I am to do
but until then I'll save your side of the bed
just come and sing me to sleep
Did you know sometimes it frightens me
when you say my name and I can't see you
will you ever learn to materialize before you speak
impetuous boy, if that's what you really are
how many centuries since you've climbed a balcony
or do you do this every night with someone else
you tell me that you never leave
and I am almost afraid to believe it
why is it me you've chosen to follow
did you like the way I look when I am sleeping
was my hair more fun to tangle
are my dreams more entertaining
do you laugh when I'm complaining that I'm all alone
where were you when I searched the sea
for a friend to talk to me
in a year where will you be
is it enough for you to steal into my mind
filling up my page with music written in my hand
you know I'll take the credit for I must have made you come to me somehow
but please try to close the curtains when you leave at night
or I'll have to find someone to stay and warm me
will you always attend my midnight tea parties
as long as I set your place
if one day your sugar sits untouched
will you have gone forever
would you miss me in a thousand years
when you will dry another's tears
but you say you'll never leave me
and I wonder if you'll have the decency
to pass through my wall to the next room
while I dress for dinner
but when I'm stuck in conversation
with stuffed shirts whose adoration
hurts my ears, where are you then
can't you cut in when I dance with other men
it's too late not to interfere with my life
you've already made me a most unsuitable wife
for any man who wants to be the first his bride has slept with
and you can't just fly into people's bedrooms
then expect them to calmly wave goodbye
you've changed the course of history
and didn't even try
where are you now
standing behind me
taking my hand
come and remind me
who you are
have you traveled far
are you made of stardust too
are the angels after you
tell me what I am to do
but until then I'll save your side of the bed
just come and sing me to sleep
Lyrics submitted by Just_AThought
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I take it very literally also. I thinkit's about an aristocratic type young woman who has a ghost companion. I don't think it's a women mourning her husband as the poem is fairly light hearted and the tone in her voice is all wrong for that. Also things like "how many centuries since you've climbed a balcony" if she was mourning then I he'd not have been born centuaries ago. "why is it me you've chosen to follow" It would be obvious why he'd chosen her is he was her dead lover no?
I think people are trying to look into this too much, it's just an iteresting little story.
Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I think.
Maybe she looks like the ghost's lover,who had also passed away.That could have made him follow her.
From what I've heard, Emilie Autumn grew up with lots of mental illnesses. One in particular, audible hallucinations. Which means that she hears things that aren't really there. Such as she hears her name being called, when no one is really calling her name. So, I think this song is based on this illness. "Did you know sometimes, it frightens me. When you say my name, and I can't see you." Most people who have audible hallucinations often get frightened, when they hear things like that. Also when she was young she used to write poems a lot, but never actually thought that they would ever become songs. So, " is it enough for you to steal into my mind, filling up my page with music written in my hand" means that the hallucinations used to give her ideas for her poems. Basically, what I think this poems about is, her questioning her illness. And her beginning to like the voices because she was lonely. Emilie Autumn is one of my favorite singers, and this is another beautiful poem she has made. So....great work Emilie! :D
i want to know the meaning as well. it's a very lovely song and i wish i had it on my ipod so that this poem would sing me to sleep, actually. i thought it had to just do with a ghost that visited a woman as well. that it gave her company at night. but akaikoutan has opened my eyes to their point of view. it does seem like it could be a lost lover. although, i would be displeased for the widow to call her deceased husband a "ghost" and just that. i would think that if this woman did truly love her husband, she would call to him by name, or something sweet.
well if he has passed on,<br /> she may well be aware that she only talks to a ghost
Well, when I hear it, I think of a royal princess. It sounds weird, but I think it's about how princesses or queens are forced into marrying someone and never being free to make there own choices. The song is written in the princesses POV, and how she wishes the ghost would keep her company and be with her when she's forced to attend dances and things.
I think it also could be about a girl who is in love with someone she shouldn't be in love with, and they keep it a secret, like a ghost.
I agree with TryNotToPanic. Also, it feels a bit as if she puts herself in this womans situation, simply because of the line "will you always attend my midnight tea parties as long as I set your place if one day your sugar sits untouched will you have gone forever"
We all know how Emilie loves her tea parties ^^
The story kind of makes me think of Taltos by Anne Rice, the resident "ghost" in that book is a bit like the one of this poem.
I think the ghost is supposed to symbolize the lack of empathetic and compassionate men. When she says "But when I'm stuck in conversation with stuffed shirts whose adoration hurts my ears", she's saying that she's surrounded by men with over-inflated egos, and that the only man who is perfect for her is dead. That's another possibility too. That she's haunted by her dead lover or husband, who was the perfect man, and she can't find his equal.
I think it's more like here Lover is not dead, but gone a lot and she misses him badly.... while awaiting his return, she imagines him calling her name; being there.... She trusts him with her life but him being gone this much makes her think about what he's doing.... is he with another girl or not.... It does seem obvious to me that he is her true Love and inspiration.... and she wants him to come home....
i agree with kinderbell
i also have a feeling that the poem might be about a girl who is actually insane. cus notice that when she's alone, she believes he's there. but when she's around other people, he's not. like when he doesn't cut in when she dances with other men and wont help her out when someone is boring her with conversation. it makes me think that since the ghost never disturbs what's really happening, that when she believes he's there it is very likely her fanastical imagination.
i also feel the same as TryNotToPanic!
i agree with kinderbell
i also have a feeling that the poem might be about a girl who is actually insane. cus notice that when she's alone, she believes he's there. but when she's around other people, he's not. like when he doesn't cut in when she dances with other men and wont help her out when someone is boring her with conversation. it makes me think that since the ghost never disturbs what's really happening, that when she believes he's there it is very likely her fanastical imagination.