In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Ugly apparition, God's gift to oxygen
The puffed up immortal son
How they love him 'cause he'll become
The ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a loaded gun?
How does it feel
Inside a chamber packed with piss and spite?
Sure life's no cherry but a cupcake for the meek (shoot up bop bop)
So he shoots up his poison until the frosting tastes so sweet (like a valentine)
Yeah he's givin' it all he's got the king of rebels hit the jackpot
But his finish line was an artistic flop
Yet even the critics can't outrun
The ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a chalkline dollar sign
How does it feel
Up at the address all the widows write?
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior, nappy superstar
To you we bid congratulations, to him adulation
A blessed life begun, for the ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a visionary poet
How does it feel
To pack a pen with vinegar and insight
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a so deep down underground?
How does it feel
To be the only one who knows you've been buried alive?
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior
The puffed up immortal son
How they love him 'cause he'll become
The ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a loaded gun?
How does it feel
Inside a chamber packed with piss and spite?
Sure life's no cherry but a cupcake for the meek (shoot up bop bop)
So he shoots up his poison until the frosting tastes so sweet (like a valentine)
Yeah he's givin' it all he's got the king of rebels hit the jackpot
But his finish line was an artistic flop
Yet even the critics can't outrun
The ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a chalkline dollar sign
How does it feel
Up at the address all the widows write?
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior, nappy superstar
To you we bid congratulations, to him adulation
A blessed life begun, for the ghost at number one
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a visionary poet
How does it feel
To pack a pen with vinegar and insight
How does it feel
To be the only one?
How does it feel
To be the only one that knows that you're right?
How does it feel
To be a so deep down underground?
How does it feel
To be the only one who knows you've been buried alive?
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior
Mrs. Lynn the fruit of your labor
Gives us a savior
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
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
All songs mean different things to different people, so I might not have the answer. But this is my understanding.
I think the song describes a struggling artist whose work is brilliant but is hard pressed to make a name for himself and is frequently misunderstood. The refrain "How does it feel to be the only one that knows that you're right?" describes his frustration after having put so much into his work but have it pass over everyone's heads. He experiences a brief stint of popularity and builds a fanbase but never amounts to anything more than a one hit wonder despite the fact that his work is good ("up at the address all the widows write" suggests that when his popularity ends the only fan letters he gets are from little old ladies, people whose lives are waning along with his career). He is "deep down underground", suggesting that his work is both deep and obscure. Thus, 'the Ghost at Number One' is a metaphor for every singer, songwriter, poet or artist whose career is defined by one chart topping single before fading away. Actually, it's ironically a good description of Jellyfish themselves, who made quite a few excellent songs, but sadly fell apart too soon.
Anyway, that's just my take on the song. I'd go into a line by line analysis but I doubt that either myself or any of you have the patience for one at the moment. ^^
I agree with GeoVII. But does anyone understand the Mrs Lynn reference? SOunds like he's name-checking someone in particular, but I'm not sure who. Great song.
Speaking as a songwriter, sometimes a word is not particularly significant, it just scans, and that's good enough.
He's probably talking about Jeff Lynne, ELO's main songwriter. And given Andy's involvement with L.E.O., Its likely that he thought of Jeff Lynne as a "Saviour"
I agree with GeoVII, but hey what fantastic lyrics! I love the line (how does it feel) 'to be a chalkline dollar sign' It's not Jeff Lynne it's referring to with 'Mrs LYNN' (sorry i don't have an answer!), although being a massive ELO fan i would love it to be a tip of the hat to him. Someone who can write such intelligent lyrics is unlikely to mis-spell the person they are (partly) writing about and secondly Jeff Lynne/ELO or even Travelling Wilburys were anything but one hit wonders. It would be particularly apt if it were regarding Jeff Lynne as he doffed his cap to the Beatles in his lyrics many times. Finally, i do love the irony of Jellyfish effectively writing about a one hit wonder, it's a crying shame this was never the massive hit it deserves to be. I enjoy introducing younger friends to it as many have never heard it and they without fail seem to love the song. Genius.
Actually, he likely misspelled it intentionally to avoid the obvious and immediate reference to Jeff. When you misspell a name, you immediately make everyone come to the conclusion that it doesn't refer to the most obvious person (based similarly to your thought rationale). "He wouldn't misspell it. So, it can't refer to Jeff." Considering the lyrics are not very flattering (and basically insulting) to the person he's referring to, it makes perfect sense for the reference to be obscured through that misspelling to avoid any accidental insults. That said, it may very well refer to Jeff in a personal way.
While the Traveling Wilbury's were effectively a flash in the pan, ELO was anything but a one-hit-wonder. ELO was never quite elevated to the level of Led Zeppelin or AC/DC or Michael Jackson (in their heyday), but they were close. Though, ELO did have a respectable number of hits beginning around 1976 and ending in the late 80s, with Out of the Blue probably being their single biggest album. That's a fairly big stretch of time to have a large number of hits on the charts and to influence future musical artists. <br /> <br /> Was there a 'Ghost at Number One'? Possibly. The ELO album just prior to this Jellyfish release was 1986's 'Balance of Power'. Not ELO at their best. There was also Jeff Lynne's 1990 solo release 'Armchair Theater'. There are also the two Travelling Wilburys' 1988 and 1990 releases. Any of these releases could be considered the 'artistic flop' that is referred to in the song. Most likely 'Armchair Theater'. When this Jellyfish song was released in 1993, ELO was only beginning to fade. So, any irony here would be in writing a song about a person from a band that's past his musical prime. Though, in 1993 it was probably a bit too early to tell that ELO was a fading star. Since this was also Jeff Lynne's first solo release, it's too hard to call failure on his solo career then. Looking back now (and even in 2011) we can see that clearly what happened. If anything, this Jellyfish song was slightly prophetic.<br /> <br /> Yes, it's possible the song refers to a fictitious person or someone else entirely, but I tend to think not... especially considering dannycohen62's comment above stating Andy's involvement with LEO (an ELO pastiche band). Discussing LEO (courtesy of bleutopia.com), Andy writes of the ELO era, "Jeff Lynne's genius for hooks and melody left so many pop gems ringing in my ears that when it came time for me to start developing my own musical language, Mr. Lynne's influence was inevitably present." This statement alone indicates the level of influence that Jeff had on Andy (and still does) and is likely the inspiration for 'The Ghost at Number One'.
@redcat71 The first record Jeff Lynne recorded has his name misspelled as "G. Lynn" on the label.
"This song was written about dead rock stars because sometimes we make a little to much of how great they were." [youtube.com/watch] That's what Robert Joseph Manning jr. said in a concert (see the link). I have always been intrigued by the b meaning of this song, and it only became clear to me only after watching that video, the song is more ironic than what I though, and it makes perfect sense: "Ugly apparition",god gift to oxygen...How does it feel to be in a chamber with piss and spite... How does it feel to be in the address all the widows write... How does it feel to be the ghost at number one." anyway helps this is as illuminating for you as it was for me! have a great day!
Hmmm, just another excellent Jellyfish song i can't figure out, , it may be about the death of a rock-star who had a number one single, meh.
Ironically to an above comment, ELO (Jeff Lynne) never had a number one song. Maybe that's the hook, "ghost at number one", as in, no #1s?
Could it be Kurt Cobain? I can't remember if the song or his suicide came first...
Yup, it's got to be Jeff Lynne, also a member of the Traveling Wilburies (you know, the dude with the big 'fro, the "nappy superstar"), friend to the Beatles, and producer of Tom Petty albums.
I feel he’s mocking Jesus Christ or repeating those who mock him
Perhaps it's about Brian Wilson?