Ghost

I find it ironic that the 1st posters name references the main under current of this song but he/she doesn't see it.. remember that most of Live's songs have religious undertones and therefor easier to understand if you look there first..

Everybody has a ghost Everybody has a ghost who sings like you do Yours is not like mine But it's alright, keep it up

he's being "religiously politically correct" by saying ghost instead of the more negative term and that we all have them but it's ok.

Boy loses rib in New Orleans He can't help eyein' up the whores Under the bridge Boy loses rib and lets a hellified cry into the dark Where did I go wrong?

man (in the garden of Eden) was to be the head of the woman (power) but the boy lost this "power" (rib) to woman as he gave into her sexually, and lets a "hellified" cry into the dark wondering where he went wrong because he didn't realize he was being lead (tempted) by his "ghost".

Where did I go wrong? I never needed this before I need a woman to help me feel

boy is confused because he is now addicted to sex but not sure how he got that way not realizing the "ghost" inside him is now what controls him.

Everybody has the dream Everybody has the dream, like a world tattoo Yours is not like mine It's alright, keep it up

everybody has a belief, believe in some sort of "God" but even if yours is different that's ok.

The scalpel dives into the skin Good doctors never leave a scar No proof again I'll take the myth, you take the blood It's all the same to the world dreamer It's all the same in the end

problem is not physical "scientifically proven" even though docters would try to free those tormented by their "ghost".. he would rather believe it's a spiritual problem (myth) as opposed to physical (blood) but either way the result is still the same.. he has a "ghost".. we all do.

Boy loses rib in New Orleans He trades some ether for a chance Under the bridge

trades drugs for sex which shows how powerful his particular ghost (sexual addiction) is as ether is very high grade cocain and SHOULD be even more addictive.

Boy loses rib as he's summoned to the mud Flat on his back Cryin' where did I go wrong?

Again the boy gives into the woman on his back still crying in desparation/confusion as to how he got so addicted.. but who summoned him?..

A boy who never learned his own way through life, maybe he never had any dignity, seeing the pretty woman you can buy, but always getting cheated or abused? 'the scalpel dives into the skin Good doctors never leave a scar No proof again' Getting lured by whores and exploited by organ donors who leave no sign of the wrong done? pretty weird but I wouldn't put it past Live, damn diverse band if you ask me. 'where did I go wrong? I never needed this before I need a woman to help me feel' a real emotional need, maybe the Buddhist or Hindu culture's belief that a man is only a man once he's been with a woman (actually, almost any culture's belief). Trying to buy something that can't be bought and getting hurt in the end. Alot of the other lyrics and peices of the chorus refer to the way you can have an entire world inside your head, a dream 'like a world tattoo' that has nothing or very little to do with reality, so you keep making moves that are foolish and unenlightened. Somewhat Biblical, 'losing rib' , Adam's body as used to create Eve, perhaps he puts a part of him into the woman (he actually does get her) or symbolically, and afterwards he realizes 'boy loses rib as he's summoned to the mud Flat on his back Cryin' where did I go wrong?' that it isn't really what he wanted, it's false it's empty it's without real meaning or EMOTION, which he seems to need so much from his attempts to get a 'woman', which may be symbolic for the feminine side of a person. God I'm long-wined. Oh well, it's probably because no one here really listens to me besides my boyfriend and my 12-year-old brother.

Enough once again of the gloom......

I think this is a song about human weakness, both physical and mental, and the realisation that this weakness damages us in some way. The boy is inoccent and wide eyed when he goes out into the world...but temptation lures him to the whores under the bridge. In giving in to this temptation he injures a part of himself, and his wide eyed confidence and enthusiasm is shattered by his mistake. "Where did I go wrong?" When he was young, he could feel that everything was great and beautiful just by playing with his parents, going fishing, whatever it may have been for him. But now, he can only feel this way with a woman, and this leaves him disillusioned and confused. The scalpel image is to do with the physical weakness of humanity and how easily we can be hurt or damaged, and how easy it is to essentially lie to the world. "Good doctors never leave a scar...no proof again." It could also be to do with people undergoing plastic surgery to "improve" themselves, and in doing so damage themselves by not being true to who they are. "Everybody has ghost, who sings like you do...yours is not like mine, but it's alright, keep it up." Everyone has their own issues, problems, or emotinal/physical damage, and not everyone's is the same...but it's ok to be hurting, it's ok to be different or depressed, it's all part of life and we have to live every day as it comes. "I'll take the myth, you take the blood, it's all the same to the world dreamer...it's all the same in the end." To people who realise that their problems are not theirs alone, and don't make them different or wrong, then blood and sweat and pain and tears are as useless or as useful as beliefs and superstition in solving their problems. What they need to do is realise that they are the people who can change things for themselves, for better or worse. "Boy loses rib, as he's summoned to the mub flat on his back, crying where did I go wrong?" People who can't realise this will be "summoned to the mud"; they will be stuck in a life that's unfulfilling and empty.....anyway that's my take on it

Seems like the best explanation is that it's about falling for a woman ("boy loses rib"... pretty straightforward).

However, just like any reall woman, it's not the one that you've always dreamed about ("everybody has a ghost") because that one can never really be real. So then you cry "where did I go wrong?" even though, obviously, no match or person is perfect.

It also seems to examine the alternatives to the woman in your life - "trading some ether for a chance under the bridge", and "eyeing up the whores under the bridge."

And for those of you in SoCal (I'm not a hater, I'm just saying), it also talks about people who just modify the reality for their pleasure through plastic surgery ("The scalpel dives into the skin"), and how some people are able to just shut it off and believe in physical ideals and be happy, since we're all going to die some day ("I'll take the myth, you take the blood/It's all the same to the world dreamer/It's all the same in the end.")

"The scalpel dives into the skin Good doctors never leave a scar No proof again"

i think this line is an analogy to the woman teaching a lesson... they are the doctors, and they don't leave a (physical) scar.

boy loses rib 'adam and eve' having a woman for sex leaves his inner self 'ghost' with a longing for a real relationship with a woman that cant define itself by using money. the rib part of himself he cant find in meaningless sex with a stranger.