Ghost Towns

To me, this song is about a person who is trying to break free of their roots, hence the name of the album, but not directly responsible for the theme of this song, just related. ;-) I also think this song is about someone realizing that they have done serious damage to a person that meant a lot to them and they are dealing with the repercussions. The worst part is that their roots and their anguish come from the same place, so then they're just admitting that they fucked up and that they miss someone dearly, a long time ago.

I think this song is related to someone that wants to put his past behind,his past relationships "I still think of you,everyone knows,if you care let it go" and so he broke up with a girl and now even if he doesn't want to,he needs to let her go,also this song relates to his past life and friends. He's trying to build a new future but he obviously can't and he says: "I'm still thinking of you" so that he just simply can't carry on and keeps thinking at that girl that he once loved.

Sorry for my bad english,English isn't my native language!

At the Oct. 15 show in Chicago Ben explained that Ghost Towns is about a drifter who has left behind his family and friends. He now travels across the country by train, taking odd jobs and refusing to settle down. The song deals with coming to terms with the finite nature of life, and that all things eventually go away. On the second album of The Family Tree the song "Reminders" revisits the character from this song, and explains how he has become a bitter, jaded, cruel man after abandoning his family and losing his belief in the inherent good in men.

Haven't heard the song, but it looks like someone who's trying to get away from their past,but each time their name is discoverd, be they yank,paddy,frog or jap they get turned away, maybe more name-genic than racist at this point. I'll youtube it now.

Ben is talking about a character who has became invested in their home town/city but has to leave his past, family, friends & memories behind for whatever reason. He is now a travelling man, possibly a wanted man, and he must keep moving onward. On his ventures he keeps passing through towns which haven't gave him much fulfillment, entertainment or memories as his home town, hence why he misses it.

Not sure about the actual meaning, but to me, this is about getting older, and getting away from your childhood.

Sean Penn directed a film, a true story of a lad who went lookin for life and reasons in Alaska, maybe this might help.

Sean Penn directed a film, a true story of a lad who went lookin for life and reasons in Alaska, maybe this might help.

The song seems to reflect on a lot of subjects. On his (the artists) site he says its about family (the album as a whole) but its a bit about his own, as well as some fiction in there.

But as some have pointed out, it also seems to reflect on past relationships and how someone is trying to move on but still think of that special person. For me this is the feeling i got from the song and can relate the most to, but i can also see it as just being about a journey and about experiences in general and how the person reflects on those and wished they had done some things different.

He made a statement on Pandora Radio saying this song was about a man who murdered someone in his home town and ran away. This is not at all what I thought the song was about!