Ghost Of A Chance

Neil Peart (from the "Roll The Bones Radio Special"): "I've always shied away from love songs and even mentioning the word in songs because it's so much cliché, and until I thought that I'd found a new way to approach it, or a new nuance of it to express, I was not going to write one of those kind of songs. "Ghost of a Chance" fit right in with my overall theme of randomness and contingency and so on, but at the same time it was a chance for me to write about love in a different way; of saying, "Here are all these things that we go through in life and the people we meet, it's all by chance. And the corners we turn and the places we go and the people we meet there." All those things are so random and yet through all of that people do meet each other, and if they work at it they can make that encounter last. So I'm saying there's a ghost of a chance it can happen, and the odds are pretty much against it, but at the same time that ghost of a chance sometimes does come through and people do find each other and stay together." (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, Washington)

this song is so freakin' awesome...

i think its about how he realized all the ladies he could of got with but didn't and he dosn't beleive in fate, he just thinks that he can find someone to love.

But thats just me.

First, the lyrics are slightly wrong. It should say "We can find someone to love" not "TO find someone to love". So you have to understand what the term Ghost of a Chance means. It basically means a slim to none chance. So I think Neil is saying that we all have a slim to none chance of finding someone to fall in love with and making that relationship work. Ouch!

my favorite Rush song. a little sad, but I love it anyway.

I think the song has to do with the odds of finding some one are pretty low; due to the amount of people and diffrent paths we take. But people still some how find that one special person.

Neil has presented an alternative slant on the love song concept before in "Different Strings", when the message was something like "no need to explain it, no need for fancy meatphors etc". I think this is a similar message that says "we can find love, despite all the shit that goes on". Neil also uses the song to air his disdain for mystical and divine forces and to push through the notion that life is an exercise in chance or luck.

Yes, definitely about chance and luck. What are the odds of any of us finding the ideal romantic partner in this crazy and chaotic existence? Not someone you simply love and care for, but a TRUE SOUL-MATE? According to Peart, there's only a ghost of a chance. I happen to agree with the man.

I always look at this as a much more positive song - All this stuff that I don't believe in, but I believe that there's a chance (slim as it might be) that we can "find someone to love, and make it last".
I actually find at least a glimmer of hope in that.

somehow we found each other threw the masquerade,in a state of grace seems to imply a destiny more so then match making belief systems,there is a ghost of a chance when that vibe,or calling is acted upon