Behind the Songs: The Ghost In You

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "The Ghost In You".

Richard Butler: "You could say that 'The Ghost In You' is a love song, where I think that would have been hard to say about any of our songs in the past." (Star Hits 1984)

John Ashton: "It was too commercial for some people but in other ways not commercial enough. Plus some people think we're a bit grim." (International Musician 1986)

John Ashton: "We did use a Fairlight, one of the early ones which was quite tatty, but we did a deal with the guy that owned it that we'd flightcase it up for him — we used it for about six weeks, I think. That lead sound on 'The Ghost In You' — we call it the Chipmunk in the Bath sound — was done on a Fairlight. We had a lot of grief with that, I remember; if we tried using a sequencer all the sustain would disappear — it was all done by hand in the end." (International Musician 1986)

Richard Butler: "If I was to do the song again I'd like it to have a coarser sound. The magic songs like 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' have is in their fragile nature. It's what I love about some Velvet Underground songs, or Prince's 'The Cross'. They're very fragile and only just hold together and I think that adds something.

"'The Ghost In You' is too bright and sturdy. It's about being haunted by someone inside, someone you can't get out of your mind." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler: "We haven't finished rehearsing yet [for the 2002 tour]. So far, we've been rehearsing about twelve songs. I think we're going to be more 'moody' this time around. We're playing songs like 'Imitation Of Christ'… obviously, we've rehearsed 'The Ghost In You,' because we need to throw some old ones in there… 'Sometimes,' off of World Outside." (Ink 19 2002)

Richard Butler: "A lot of people think that 'Pretty In Pink' was our biggest hit, which it actually wasn't. It got a lot of recognition for us because of the movie, but actually, as a single on the charts, before that we had 'Love My Way' – which was a bigger hit, and certainly 'Ghost In You' was a bigger hit." (Ink 19 2002)

Richard Butler: "'Ghost In You' is a lovely song to play." (That Modern Rock Show (89.1 WFDU) 2009)

Tim Butler (on him and Richard writing songs): "We would write songs together. I would start playing a riff and if a particular riff caught Richard's fancy, he'd start writing lyrics and then go from a riff to a chorus. I remember ['The Ghost In You'] came together very quickly. Richard would write lyrics on napkins or pieces of paper, they'd be falling out of his pockets!" (That Music Magazine 2013)

Tim Butler (on the keyboard sounds in "The Ghost In You" and "Love My Way"): "Those were both written by Ed Buller who was our keyboard player at the time. He did those keyboard parts off the top of his head. I think he thought they captured the atmosphere and the lyrics of the songs. Those are the most memorable parts of those songs." (Cleveland Scene 2014)

Tim Butler: "The two songs that get the most reaction live are actually 'The Ghost In You' and 'Heaven.' I don't know what makes those songs get more of a reaction. I would have thought 'Heartbreak Beat' would because that's our biggest single, but it doesn't. I don't know how these things work." (Cleveland Scene 2014)

Tim Butler: "We were already hitting the charts before the re-release of 'Pretty In Pink'. 'Love My Way' was top fifty and 'Ghost In You' was a top forty hit." (Jubilee Cast 2017)

Tim Butler: "Songs like 'Love My Way' and 'Ghost In You' are the only light songs. And they're not particularly light, but they're not as dark and, dare I say, rock 'n' roll-y as most of the set." (Music-Illuminati 2018)

Tim Butler: "When you hear 'Love My Way' in Call Me By Your Name, or 'The Ghost In You' in the background of Stranger Things, you think: 'Wow, these songs still mean something, they still stand up'." (Portsmouth.co.uk 2019)

Tim Butler: "Recently, 'The Ghost In You' was used in Stranger Things on Netflix, and the film Call Me By Your Name (2017), used 'Love My Way' quite a lot." (WriteWyattUK 2019)

Richard Butler: "The songs that sound more retro are the ones where we delved more into synthesizers—'Ghost In You' perhaps." (Magnet Magazine 2020)

Tim Butler (on The Strokes sampling "The Ghost In You" on their song "Eternal Summer"): "When I first heard about it, because I'm not a huge fan of The Strokes, I was a bit wary of it, but I ended up really liking it. We met the singer [Julian Casablancas] years ago when we played The Viper Room and he came to see us and he seemed like a nice guy." (NME 2020)

Richard Butler: "I think 'The Ghost In You' still sounds pretty good, but it's not as timeless as, say, 'Pretty In Pink' or 'Dumb Waiters' or even slower songs like 'She Is Mine'." (Rock Cellar Magazine 2020)

Richard Butler (on the meaning of the line "A man in my shoes runs a light"): "It's saying a person like me, or perhaps even me, takes chances, runs a light.

"It's my little metaphor for taking chances, and then it goes into pretty straightforward, 'The papers lied tonight, but falling over you is the news of the day.'" (Songfacts 2020)

Tim Butler: "The songs we can't get out of not playing are 'Love My Way,' 'Ghost In You,' 'Heaven,' and 'Heartbreak Beat.' Those are the ones that, if you take out of the set, you'll get lynched." (Nuvo 2023)

Tim Butler (on being asked if there was someone who inspired the lyrics to "The Ghost In You"): "I wouldn't want to speak for Richard. I think Richard likes his lyrics to be interpreted in a way that makes you feel something. So, whatever an individual wants to make of it that's OK. That's why also I think it's a timeless song. I don't think it ages." (Tallahassee Democrat 2023)

Photo: Sheila Rock