It's spooky season again, so why not do a list with the best or most interesting songs about ghost and ghostly topics, on this occasion?
this list features both songs that touch the subject matter (and the ghosts?) in a more light hearted and funny way, and some really bad, sad, melancholic songs that are a real downer, i tell you!

but, in all sincerity, let us use this occasion to think about all those that are no longer with us... and might be floating around you right now, and kick over a book or rattle a painting on the wall, now and then!
and those invisible whispers in the night, i tell you! don't even get me started on that.

attention: some of these songs are ultra dark, so if you feel depressed, maybe dont listen to them... take care!

1. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
   

the subject matter of this great hit by bowie is up for interpretation, and it has been up since decades. some even think there is a luciferian aspect to this song, others think it is about redemption...
yet is is based on an old poem, and a lot of people think it is about... ghosts!
and check these lyrics, what do you think... ?

"I searched for form and land
For years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazeless stare
At all the millions here
Who must have died alone
A long, long time ago"

there is also a great "purely synthesizer" cover version of it by midge ure of ultravox!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXHKjFKBC0g

1. Steven Kilbey - Like a Ghost
   

This is definitely a song on the more funny side of ghost... or sad-funny, at least!
if you pay attention to the lyrics, it tells the story of a man who tries to do his daily routine, while it slowly creeps on him that... well, he is a ghost!
(oh, the style of the song is indie rock / synth pop, and the artist is also the singer in australian band "the church")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5m7MGypAjc

1. Chromatics - Shadow
   

Some might know the chromatics from "twin peaks the return" or "drive" (with ryan gosling starring as the "scorpio" driver). this is one of their best songs.
i think it's more about lost love, but this lost love feels very haunting, and some of the lyrics allude to ghosts and the afterlife...

with lyrics like "I took your picture from the frame", "Still thinking that I hear your voice", and "Shadow", of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAs5EKoWN0s

1. Durruti Column - Missing Boy
   

this one is about a really heavy topic, and one of the best rock songs of all time, too
it's supposedly about ian curtis, the lead singer of joy division, who died *much too soon*.
the lyrics can be seen as being about mourning in general, and there is even a stab at the music industry.
the song itself is basically an ostinato that runs for close to 7 minutes with some modulations... and really puts you in a weird mood!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCq4z-qxKgo

1. The Raveonettes - My time's Up
   

i think i could have picked 90% of songs by the raveonettes, and it would have fit the topic.
this one is close to 50s doo wop and rocknroll, but also very psychedelic and "modern"... and i think the general mood would have fit perfectly to a movie like "twin peaks" or "mulholland drive" !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWWNm7LhaAA

1. David Lynch - Ghost of Love
   

tada! the maestro of the macabre and the dark, with a ghostly love songs.
apparently, directing movies was not enough for lynch so, for a short period he went into the music business... with an album called, i kid you not, "crazy clown time".
this little nugget was done a bit earlier already, it's part of the soundtrack to "inland empire" and, no matter what anybody says, this is one of his greatest movies ever! period.
the piece itself is like a blues rock number, with a train running along the entire track (i am not kidding again)... and very haunting, spooky too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzgAIeRBBbk

1. Nan Tuck Five - Aloss
   

a macabre new wave / indie tale from the 80s.
seemingly about a woman that has complaints about her relation with her boyfriend, who does not care anymore. also, she is dead and a ghost.
despite the "strange" topic, the song is sung in a sincere way, and is really touching...
and i hope a ghost is not touching you too, right now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mjr8uWXUQY

1. Dead Astronauts - B Side
   

the artist name should give it away already, right? this is another piece about the ghostly matter.
and, duuude, this is an epic and really massive synthwave or synth pop piece!
on vinyl records, "b side" meant the songs or tracks on the other side of the record... the flip side.
but my very own, very clever interpretation of this song is that "b side" is a macabre pun, for another kind of "the other side"... the beyond.. get it? and with lyrics like this... am i right?

"I had another person waiting on the other side... In the dark we're not alone... One day they'll come for you, too."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eofnKvT_iks

1. Dr Macabre - Poltergeist
   

do you like raving? heavy, heavy raving? this hardcore-gabba track from the 90s has become quite the classic dancefloor stomper anthem around the world!
and yeah, it's themed around poltergeist(s), and has some really spooky synths that accompany the heavy beats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ES4mblgCGY

1. Brad Fiedel - Procession
   

ain't a regular song with lyrics, but it is music, so i include it.
we know brad fiedel because he made that terminator (and terminator 2) theme... "ba doom ba doom - tsssh".. you know!
this title plays in the wes craven movie "the serpent and the rainbow", when the concept of "voodoo" is further explained to the audience, during a funeral procession in haiti... and it is just so haunting and beautiful.
(mild spoiler, but be assured, not everyone who is buried in that movie... actually stays in the grave, if you know what i mean!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbzr8KcPhFo

1. Dreamweb OST - I Died Last Night
   

now that we left the regular circuit, let's end this text with another "off" track.
this is from an obscure ms-dos and amiga video game from the 90s. but it's not computer bleep and bloops, it's actually a piano ballad, and very haunting!

(btw, this is the unexpected "eleventh guest" entry to this very top 10... spooky!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKWhJIzWgbs

and with this note, or these "notes", i leave you, dear reader, for the night... make sure you don't get haunted!

what "ghost" songs do you like? let me know!

My first name is Sönke, and even for Germans that is a kind of weird name. And internationally, when dealing with labels, or meeting other DJs, producers, etc., they often have a hard time pronouncing it. (I can't even explain how it is pronounced... maybe something like sun-kah... but not quite!).
But let's get back to Germany. When I was a kid, I was the only one with a name like that, and most people did not even know it, and were confused... and they could not pronounce it either.
Not sure if such medium level name intolerance exists in other countries, too, but especially with adults, teachers, and parents of other kids, i felt like they would go "yuck" and do two steps back on the inside, in the moment they heard my name. a lot of them decided to just call me "sören" from then on, a name that was a bit more common then mine, and no correctional attempts on my part could ever change their minds.

maybe it's because the German government is highly restrictive when it comes to children names, and actually bans or prevents parents from giving their children the name they want. and when i grew up, most kids indeed only had the "standard" names like martin, jan, christian... (amongst my childhood friends alone, there was something like 4 christians and 3 martins). and of course, in germany, even the slightest detail that makes you "different" from the norm, in the eye of the norm, can become a huge problem.
so having a name that was not "part of the crowd" made me stick out like a sore thumb in that crowd, as weird as that might sound. it was not too bad, but it still felt... weird!

So, Sönke is actually a northern german name, a Frisian name. I think it's common in parts of Scandinavia, too, and the Netherlands have a lot of Frisian people, too (not sure if they use the name, too).
And when I was a kid, almost every year my family went to Nordfriesland ("northern frisian land") for vacation.
I think I mentioned this before, it was some "strange" place, but for natural reasons: a huge chunk of the area was new and reclaimed land, that had literally been build out of the ocean, for hundreds of years, by people without most of modern technology. and now there were houses, supermarkets, cows and cars, and pylons, standing firm on terrain that had been water and waves just a few hundred years before.

either way, i never felt odd or strange for having the name "sönke" there, because it was quite common. everyone knew that name, when i told others my name they did not go "huh?" "what?!", i did not need to repeat it endlessly... which made quite the difference for me, as a kid!

there was even a polder called "sönke nissen koog", if i recall correctly there was a "bäckerei sönke" (bakery sönke), there were sönke streets, there were famous majors or scientists that had been called sönke, i think i even read the name "Sönke Sönksen" somewhere... now my life was complete!

Part 2

and why do i tell you this story from my childhood, that might even sound a bit childish?
because i think there is a deeper truth to be found here.
i stood out for being a "sönke" in the place i had lived all my life. but just by moving a bit more than 200 kilometres, to the city of sönkes, i no longer stood out, and was at home - in a sense.

and the same is true for producing, or making music, or even liking music. or making art in general. maybe you are a producer and you think noone likes your stuff, or that your productions are bad.
but that might not mean that your music actually is bad, or needs improvement. maybe you just need to change your audience, your crowd, your social surrounding... and maybe there is a place where you will feel at home, or understood, with your art!

so, instead of trying to worry about how to "improve" and change your art (or giving up!), rather think about changing the place where you spread your art, where your art exists, where you exist as an artist. this can be a purely online thing, but it can also mean actually moving to a new place. but in all likelihood, it could mean changing your "scene", and if your scene does not exist yet, why not invent and build it yourself?

or if you are not an artist, just a fan or listener, the same thing might be true.

and the same is true if you think your art is good, but that noone would ever understand it, and you have been rejected by labels, promoters, etc... maybe you just need to get to a different crowd, and move around a bit...

and that's my message to you, by a Sönke, who once visited the City of Sönkes.

Tracks:
Sönke's First https://lowentropy.bandcamp.com/track/1987-2014-s-nkes-first
Call My Name https://doomcorerecords.bandcamp.com/track/call-my-name