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Casper The Friendly Ghost Lyrics
He was smiling through his own personal hell
Dropped his last dime in a wishing well
But he was hoping to close and then he fell
Now he's Casper the Friendly Ghost
He was always polite to the people who'd tell him
That he was nothing but a lazy bum, but
Goodbye to them he had to go
Now he's Casper the Friendly Ghost
Nobody treated him nice while he was alive
You can't buy no respect like the librarian said, but
Everybody respects the dead, they
Love a friendly ghost
And now they say we'll never forget what he learned us
As we were mean to him but he never burned us
Singing, "love lives forever!"
Thank you, Casper the Friendly Ghost
Thank you, Casper the Friendly Ghost
Dropped his last dime in a wishing well
But he was hoping to close and then he fell
Now he's Casper the Friendly Ghost
That he was nothing but a lazy bum, but
Goodbye to them he had to go
Now he's Casper the Friendly Ghost
You can't buy no respect like the librarian said, but
Everybody respects the dead, they
Love a friendly ghost
As we were mean to him but he never burned us
Singing, "love lives forever!"
Thank you, Casper the Friendly Ghost
Thank you, Casper the Friendly Ghost
Song Info
Submitted by
daffy On May 15, 2002
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If you haven't already, check out the 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston" documentary, it does a really great job of detailing Daniel's struggles, and give insight into what his songs mean. Casper is a continuing theme through his music and art. He was definitely obsessed with the image, most likely because he identified with being an outsider. Casper was the 'friendly' ghost who no one understood and was shunned by those in his circle for not being scary enough, and shunned by those in the real world because he was a ghost. For a time (especially when the song was orignally written) Daniel was ostrisized by his family and friends for being an outsider, and had not yet been accepted by the music community. While me may have written this as an ode to his favorite cartoon, the similarities between the two should not be overlooked....
I heard this song first from the movie KIDS and it's great. I think this song means that while this kid was alive, no one respected him much, but now that he is gone, people are starting to recgonize how he wasn't such a bad kid after all, just perhaps fell into the wrong crowd.
i think this song is probably simply about Casper the Ghost. Daniel Johnston has an obsession with casper the ghost.
i think this song is probably simply about Casper the Ghost. Daniel Johnston has an obsession with casper the ghost.
This song is about himself, just like many of his other songs, such as the Hate Song, one of my favorites....oh and The Monster Iside of Me.
MAJOR STEEZ D.J'S STILL REPPIN FROM THE REEEEEEEEL UNDAGRAND
When was this song made? great song though
haven't you ever had a death fantasy? where you fantasize about your death, how things will be, how people will react when you die?
everybody respects the dead
You can't buy no respect like the librarian said
who does he refer to here?
"the librarian" is this girl, laurie, who he was obsessed with (and still is)
"the librarian" is this girl, laurie, who he was obsessed with (and still is)
He is referring to his own song "Grievances", in which there is the line: And the librarian said, you can't buy no respect.
On the surface this song is obviously about someone only being respected after they die, but I think underneath it is even more bitter. It sounds to me like Daniel Johnston is saying no one will like him until he is famous, and even though that bothers him, he will be respectful to where he came from.
Then again, this is just my interpretation, I have watched no documentaries.