Music Blog

Rockin’ In Isolation

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Today’s theme at Song Lyric Sunday is all about songs with the lyrics “eerie, ghost, haunting, paranormal or spooky” as suggested by Di of pensitivity101.

There are any number of songs along these lines .… the pop hit “Spooky” by the Classic IV, the golden standard “Ghost Of A Chance” by Ella Fitzgerald or the classic cowboy legend “Ghost Riders In The Sky” by Johnny Cash, just to name three. However, I remembered a song from just four years ago and had it simmering on the back burner.

Today seemed like the right day to serve it up.

Since 2017, the Rolling Stones had been on the No Filter Tour but had to stop touring in 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic. They remotely performed at Global Citizen’s Together At Home concert on April 18, 2020, helping raise money for healthcare workers and the World Health Organization during the crisis.  

The Stones had been working on new music in the recording studio before lockdown and one particular track really resonated with what we were all living through. On April 23, 2020, the band released “Living In A Ghost Town” online as a single for digital download and streaming. It was based on 2019 recording sessions and finished remotely, making this their first original material since 2012 and their first release since the 2016 cover album Blue & Lonesome. The band fast-tracked releasing the song due to its relevance to social distancing. While the original storyline of the song was about being a ghost after a plague, Jagger changed some of the lyrics to refer to the pandemic.

On July 3, 2020, “Living In A Ghost Town” topped the German singles chart; this made the Rolling Stones the oldest artists ever to reach #1 on the chart! It also signified the longest gap between two #1 singles in Germany since “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” made it to the top slot in 1968. The song only reached #61 on the UK singles chart but fared much better in the US, peaking at #6 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles and #3 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative songs.

Recorded in Los Angeles, London and in isolation, my feature song today is “Living In A Ghost Town” by the Rolling Stones.

Lyrics

Whoa, oh
Whoa, oh

I’m the ghost
Living in a ghost town
I’m a ghost
Living in a ghost town

You can look for me
But I can’t be found
You can search for me
I had to go underground

Life was so beautiful
Then we all got locked down
Feel a like ghost
Living in a ghost town, yeah

Once this place was humming
And the air was full of drumming
The sound of cymbals crashing
Glasses were all smashing
Trumpets were all screaming
Saxophones were blaring
Nobody was caring if it’s day or night (Whoa, oh)
Whoa, oh

I’m a ghost
Living in a ghost town
I’m going nowhere
Shut up all alone
So much time to lose
Just staring at my phone

Every night I am dreaming
That you’ll come and creep in my bed
Please let this be over
Not stuck in a world without end

Whoa, oh
Whoa, oh
Whoa, oh
Whoa, oh

Preachers were all preaching
Charities beseeching
Politicians dealing
Thieves were happy stealing
Widows were all weeping
No beds for us to sleep in
Always had the feeling
It will all come tumbling down

I’m a ghost
Living in a ghost town
You can look for me
But I can’t be found

Whoa, oh
We’re all living in a ghost town (Whoa, oh)
Oh, living in a ghost town (Whoa, oh)
We were so beautiful (Whoa, oh)
I was your man about town (Whoa, oh)

Living in this ghost town (Whoa, oh)
Ain’t having any fun (Whoa, oh)
If I want a party (Whoa, oh)
It’s a party of one
Whoa, oh
Whoa, oh

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Michael Phillip Jagger/Keith Richards

Chill You To The Bone

Big thanks to Jim for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday and to Di for her excellent theme suggestion.

Thanks for stopping by. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

32 thoughts on “Rockin’ In Isolation”

    1. As Mick would say, “Please allow me to introduce myself…..”

      You’re not the only one, Liz! Unless you’re streaming or downloading, there’s no reason you should have heard it. I’ve never even heard it on SiriusXM.

      By all means, share away!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. This one was a new one for me, and I really like it a lot. That was good that they changed the lyrics a bit to be in line with the lockdowns that were happening at the time. We didn’t get out much either, but when we did it was strange feeling. 🙂

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    1. I hear ya, Barbara. It really was strange. We stayed very close to home as much as possible. When I saw my then 10 year old granddaughter for the first time in months, she hugged me for 15 minutes straight and wouldn’t let go. I found out later she’d been having nightmares that me and my husband had died. Poor kid! Covid played mind games on our young ones.

      You can never go wrong with the Stones, IMO. This is vintage.

      Thanks for your comments.

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      Reply

    1. Glad to know you enjoyed this one, Clive. It’s got that great old Stones sound to it.

      I can imaging how you felt watching those scenes from London; we were never in lockdown in my area but I know lots of people who were. I remember receiving a video text from my son who was on a job in Manhattan at the time. It was surreal, very much like a ghost town. What a strange time indeed.

      Thanks for your great comments. I’ll be looking to see which song you went with. 😊

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      1. It’s the Stones: what’s not to like!

        I’m not able to get out much anyway, so lockdown wasn’t too hard for me. But I worked in London for more than 30 years and seeing empty streets that were usually bustling with people was weird.

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        1. We’re homebodies. Being in a state of quarantine wasn’t much of a stretch. We followed the rules, went out only when necessary and stayed close to home. And neither one of us ever got sick. The hardest part was having to do my own PT at home after knee replacement surgery in December 2019! Far from ideal! Staying away from our family was difficult, especially with a newborn granddaughter. We did the ubiquitous grocery drop-offs and waving through the window, like so many other people and, of course FaceTime, but we made it through Covid. We were among the lucky.

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          1. I think anyone there or here who got through it unscathed was lucky, given that both our governments were far too slow to do anything about it. But when you have incompetent clowns in charge what can you expect?

            The one thing I do miss is the ‘from home’ shows that many musicians took to doing. They brightened up my days enormously.

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  8. I loved this and was surprised it didn’t sell more here in UK. (Though, that said, ‘guilty as charged, m’Lud’ as I didn’t shell out for it despite being a huge Stones fan. 😉 )

    Very ‘Some Girls’ era classic sound to it I thought.

    🙂

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    1. It has a really cool Stones sound, doesn’t it? I’m glad I saved this one for today!

      I was very surprised to see the UK stats for this one. It’s on my playlist under the heading Kicking Covid’s Ass! 😂

      I can see why you thought Some Girls, Cee Tee. Classic Stones. 👅

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