Ghosts

When we were in Rome last June I was surprised to hear something by Springsteen played in one of the Metro stations. I suppose The Boss is still fashionable enough in Italy to warrant such attention - and the Italians generally have great taste in music. Actually, it took me a moment to identify exactly what was playing. It was Ghosts from the recent Letter to You, and waiting for our train I suddenly realised what a great, great song it is.

A word of explanation here. I got hold of the album some time back along with the most recent albums from Elvis Costello and a whole stack of Radiohead and, in all honesty, I wasn't entirely enamoured with it initially. I already knew from a couple of reviews I'd chanced upon that it was a return to the classic E Street Band sound, but early listening had me thinking the classic sound was a bit tired (especially after the wonders of Western Stars.) For some obscure reason even the best tracks, like Ghosts, didn't quite do it for me. But just before Rome I was beginning to change my mind and, as noted above, public exposure to it pounding in the cavernous space of the Metro provided the illumination I needed.

Since then the song has become a special one for me, helping me deal with my own ghosts. But here's the thing. In Springsteen's brilliant lyric his ghosts can be heard rather than seen. When my ghosts come in dreams I see them with absolute clarity. But they are always silent. That's how I know they are dead, aside from the obvious fact that in real life they are dead. (What an odd sentence, but I have to let it stand because that's the way it is.) The silence is not accusatory in any sense; it's simply the way of things. And it is always sad.

Part of the brilliance of the song is the way it becomes a celebration of being alive, and rightly so. I wish my dreams had something of that quality, but they leave me with a mystifying sense of emptiness. Perhaps this is all a lesson related to the need to listen harder to all sorts of voices? Especially those of the dead.