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Kristin Hersh — Your Ghost
Album: Hips & Makers
Avg rating:
7.4

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2356









Released: 1994
Length: 3:11
Plays (last 30 days): 2
If I walk down this hallway
Tonight, it's too quiet
So I pad through the dark
And call you on the phone
Push your old numbers
And let your house ring
Till I wake your ghost

Let him walk down your hallway
It's not that quiet
Slide down your receiver
Sprint across the wire
Follow my number
Slide into my hand

Its the blaze across my nightgown
It's the phone's ring
I think last night
You were driving circles around me

I can't drink this coffee
Till I put you in my closet
Let him shoot me down
Let him call me off
I take it from his whisper
Your not that tough

It's the blaze across my nightgown
It's the phone's ring
I think last night (you were in my dreams)
You were driving circles around me
Comments (234)add comment
This one still has burn power. 
 pmjett wrote:

Man.  Something about this song absolutely transports me to my 20 year old self and the relationship I was in at the time.  Love the song, but I have to sit down and let the emotion of that time come and go.  Whew.



me too, me too. i was 26 though.
yep - this is good
 Majoran wrote:

Dieser Song ist eine Perle. Hühnerhaut.



I'm guessing this is German Google Translate; 


This song is a pearl. chicken skin.

 jsed wrote:

Liked this song since it came out.  Would enjoy it more now if Stipe weren't singing.  So much overexposure at this point in his career.  It's the musical equivalent to hearing someone use "Groovy" "Gnarly" "Wicked" or "Def" in common conversation.  It's like a date stamp.   


How pompous of you to say, but clearly not as "Edgy" as you imagined.
Dieser Song ist eine Perle. Hühnerhaut.
 pmjett wrote:

Man.  Something about this song absolutely transports me to my 20 year old self and the relationship I was in at the time.  Love the song, but I have to sit down and let the emotion of that time come and go.  Whew.



me too! it stops me in my tracks every time!! I dont think i will ever not have that wave of emotion. its incredible how music works through emotion.
Anyone suggesting that the Greg Laswell version is better probably hasn't been more wrong in their entire life.
This is inspired on so many levels whereas
Greg Laswell makes middle of the road dirges favoured by middle of the road US TV shows.
 Proclivities wrote:

Well, it is a twenty-year-old recording, so I guess there is a sort of "date stamp".  


Greg Laswell's cover... 
Sweet and sad, haunting, but oh so right for some long ago bittersweet love...
Great lyrics!!
Only 7 from me 
One of my favourite songs. Beautiful.
More Kristen please!!! {#Hearteyes}
Oh Kristen...
Where was he? And what was he doing?
Man.  Something about this song absolutely transports me to my 20 year old self and the relationship I was in at the time.  Love the song, but I have to sit down and let the emotion of that time come and go.  Whew.
I've always been intrigued by this song...two very talented artists, dancing their quirky voices together very edgily, and very well, I think.
 Rockit wrote:
Greg Laswells' version mucho better.

 
That's an interesting opinion which I entirely disagree with.
This one stays with you...
Greg Laswells' version mucho better.
love this
Saw her in a little basement folk club off Charing x road London , very good
Hersh and Stipe, a godlike combination in a great song. 
Does Patti Smith do this song?
Gawd, talk about tripping down memory lane. I used to play this song over and over and over, around the time it came out. I must have been going through yet another overly angst-y breakup at the time. I sure did love to wallow in those things. At the time. 
AWESOME.  Thanks Bill
I like it.
Gosh this is twenty years ago that I heard this song.. and that time I have away the CD because g was in a depression and I couldn't hear it.
But now.. I am so happy to have found it again, thanks RP {#Dance} 
 jsed wrote:
Liked this song since it came out.  Would enjoy it more now if Stipe weren't singing.  So much overexposure at this point in his career.  It's the musical equivalent to hearing someone use "Groovy" "Gnarly" "Wicked" or "Def" in common conversation.  It's like a date stamp.   

 
Well, it is a twenty-year-old recording, so I guess there is a sort of "date stamp".  
Liked this song since it came out.  Would enjoy it more now if Stipe weren't singing.  So much overexposure at this point in his career.  It's the musical equivalent to hearing someone use "Groovy" "Gnarly" "Wicked" or "Def" in common conversation.  It's like a date stamp.   
My favorite song by my favorite artist. Got to spend some time with her down in LA once long ago. Neat woman.
This song's not for everybody, but then, it doesn't try to be. For some it's "barfo", for me its currently one of my favorites.
 schitfitz wrote:
This song was iffy until the stereo got a hold of it. Fix the RIAA mix down and it's awesome.
 
What does this mean? This song contains a very quiet, very low bass sound that's particularly amazing. Is that what you're referring to?


 Peter_Bradshaw wrote:
{#Heartkiss} ......... so very good 9
 
Seconded. Kristin gives me the willies, in a very good way. 9 from the smitten {#Hearteyes} and spooked {#Eek} Nottingham jury.
Every version is a sucko-barfo.
Chords out of sync with melody?
I built a very special 2 channel stereo just to listen to the music RP forced me to buy. This song was iffy until the stereo got a hold of it. Fix the RIAA mix down and it's awesome.
{#Hand}
I really, really cannot decide if i like this song... perhaps it's one where one's current mood is as important as the song....
{#Heartkiss} ......... so very good 9
Could definitely use more Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses on RP!
Definitely goosebumps...{#Clap}
the song I found my love with
Music to slit your wrists to. :-/
 Sasha2001 wrote:

These are sorts of things you get to do when you are Michael Stipe. I'll bet if I called Patti Smith up out of the blue and asked her if she wanted to be my valentine she would probably hang up and call the police.

 
{#Angel} smile to both comments
 socalhol wrote:

Funny thing - hearing Michael Stipe in this song just made me recall the interview I watched this past Sunday on CBS about Patti Smith!!  The first Valentine's Day she spent alone after her husband passed away, Michael Stipe called Patti up on the phone, introduced himself and asked if he could be her valentine.  She said yes, and hung up smiling, feeling less alone.  I thought that was such a sweet story!

 
These are sorts of things you get to do when you are Michael Stipe. I'll bet if I called Patti Smith up out of the blue and asked her if she wanted to be my valentine she would probably hang up and call the police.
Love this, gives me goosebumps.  SO much better than Greg Laswell's pale imitation.
 Shesdifferent wrote:
I think I just realized that I have never really liked this song

 
It's been spreading rumors about you behind your back...    {#Whisper}
ein netter song,  {#Angel}
 Yes, Great cover ! Danimal174 wrote:


It was Greg Laswell's version, I think.

 


This is pretty annoying.....


I used to like it better back when I was into R.E.M. as well... now it comes off as a forced "by-the-numbers-americana" tune

...and I do hope I never ever hear it in sequence after Teng's "The Passage" - it can really kill the perfect mood of that song
I think I just realized that I have never really liked this song
love this song. always makes me stop whatever I'm doing and listen
If I try to mosaic while listening to this, I will cut my finger off by accident. This is actually a fairly high complement..


Flooding



love this.
 REMaster wrote:
Nice tune. Reminds me of Patti Smith. Also nice vocals from Michael Stipe.
 
Funny thing - hearing Michael Stipe in this song just made me recall the interview I watched this past Sunday on CBS about Patti Smith!!  The first Valentine's Day she spent alone after her husband passed away, Michael Stipe called Patti up on the phone, introduced himself and asked if he could be her valentine.  She said yes, and hung up smiling, feeling less alone.  I thought that was such a sweet story!
Another tape lost in the mists of time. Damn that was a good album... now where is that itunes button...
Really good.  Keep hoping to hear Sundrops, from the same cd. It's a solid 9.

50 Foot Wave is mo betta. really raw and edgey. can not believe it's the same girl


 DaveInVA wrote:
"let your house ring until I wake your goat"
 
Yeah, that would be truly annoying. My goat takes ages to go to sleep once it has been stirred by the phone.
I like how in the chorus two singers are saying two different things ("You were in my dream" / "I think last night") suggesting confusion as to whether it was a dream or not.


 
SpamNRice wrote:
I could get very lost in a bottle listening to this... add some rain and I'd be gone.
 

this comment is right on
 REMaster wrote:
Nice tune. Reminds me of Patti Smith. Also nice vocals from Michael Stipe.
 


I heard Patti, too. Made me look to see if it was!

If Kristin was listening I imagine she would be incredibly honored to be following four of the most magnificent pieces of music ever written.

Prince - When Doves Cry
The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Beethoven - Symphony No.5 - Allegro Con Brio
Pink Floyd - Time


I could get very lost in a bottle listening to this... add some rain and I'd be gone.
Wow!
 Snoopy2 wrote:
Think it should be called driving circles
 
Think I agree with you.{#Clap}
"let your house ring until I wake your goat"
Nice tune. Reminds me of Patti Smith. Also nice vocals from Michael Stipe.
Think it should be called driving circles
I havent heard about her for a long time. Mistake!
One of my favourite songs by one of my favourite artists - beautiful.  And the first thing i learnt to play on guitar.
 Danimal174 wrote:


It was Greg Laswell's version, I think.
 
That version played yesterday.  Most folks longed to hear this version; Bill delivers!

 Shimmer wrote:
Kristin's memoir, Rat Girl, is on my night stand these days. Providence, RI, 1985 - I was there!
 
Oh, boy - one more book I need to buy.  This song creeps me out, a lot like Fever Ray's stuff does. It evokes unnerving, black-and-white scenarios of things that are where they shouldn't be - like a tricycle in a tree during a lightning storm.  I love the music, but I think it's probably one of those songs I won't be able to listen to very often because I'm too easily frightened these days. (I'm getting old and wussy.)

Kristin's memoir, Rat Girl, is on my night stand these days. Providence, RI, 1985 - I was there!
This gives me goose pimples. As the late, great John Peel often said, good music should scare you, and this is really unsettling. 9 from the wonderfully spooked Nottingham jury.
I've loved this track ever since I first heard it.
Really good melody.
" ... singing in circles, around me."
 Stingray wrote:
LOVE YOU, KRISTIN....!
 

Good to see I agree with stingray on 1(!) thing.

Spain from the Sunny Border Blue album is a great song, if anyone feels inclined to upload it..


LOVE YOU, KRISTIN....!
Wow, posters seem to love this dirge! The Holidays are a dark time, indeed.
 newwavegurly wrote:
I think a different version (a cover, perhaps?) of this song was used in "Grey's Anatomy" last night...
 

It was Greg Laswell's version, I think.
I think this morning this song is driving circles around me
An intriguingly pretty piece.

 WayUpNorth wrote:
Great song ... I should be sitting outside alone on a warm, moonless, breezless summer evening watching fireflies again the black night sky. 
 
Very, very well put.  Maybe follow it with "Fade Into You."
Reminds me of the ending of "True Night" (Criminal Minds, Season 3, Episode 10), with Johnny McHale in his psychiatric hospital room, calling his deceased girlfriend's cell phone over and over again, just to hear the voicemail message.
wiki

Hersh's music is known for its chords, sonic treatments, and a vocal style ranging from softly melodic singing to impassioned screaming. Some of her signature contributions to popular music include addressing the complexities of life through impressionistic, sometimes hallucinatory lyrics about everyday feelings and varying mental states. A few of her songwriting subjects have included childbirth ("Hysterical Bending"), love ("Tar Kissers", "Lavender"), surreal vignettes ("Delicate Cutters", "Fish"), death ("Limbo"), emotional anguish ("The Letter"), loss of custody of her first son ("Candyland"), and the shedding of a relationship's anxiety ("Snake Oil").

Hersh has used images such as apples, water, diamonds, eyes, the sea, snow, ice, rain, fire, the sun, sand, and cowboys. On occasion she has used historical figures like anorexic suicide Ellen West as metaphors in depicting a state of mind. Eccentric characters encountered in her family's travels have made occasional appearances in songs such as "Ruthie's Knocking"; a 2005 live solo set list included a then-untitled song ("Under The Gun") about a "parrot lady" character she met while visiting Lake Michigan.


Good song. Greg Laswell does an excellent rendition of this on his "Covers" EP. You can listen to a sample via Amazon at the link below -

https://www.amazon.com/Covers/dp/B002VFA6PG/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1274123874&sr=8-8

Great song ... I should be sitting outside alone on a warm, moonless, breezless summer evening watching fireflies again the black night sky. 
YEEEEES!
i do remember liking this whole album; it's on cassette somewhere.
Just bumped it from a 9 to a 10. Kills me. A dark room, a full bottle and a loaded gun. And I mean that in the best way.
 JaySea wrote:
Haunting and enigmatic... Kristin continues to amaze and enchant 
 
{#Curtain} whispers, "What Jay said."  For he expressed it so well. {#Bounce}

Very Patti Smith
 Anax wrote:

I followed LongGoneDaddy's link and got the 50 Foot Wave version. Thanks.

I like Michael Stipe, though you don't have to. However, in the choruses that he sings with Kristin in her solo version, she raises her voice and screams them in the 50 Ft Wave one. Or call it a hoarse gargle. I'm just saying, she seems to have wanted that sound.
 
I still liked it enough even so that I bought it when it came out, even with Michael Stipe {#Music}
This is all about my ex & I...  Every few months, I like to hear it and really crank it... 

But then again, I just worked 10 nights in a row and didn't have the time for any Xmas nor New Year's.  It's just nice to be sitting at home, in my PJ's, having a cocktail, glad I don't have to go out in the Very COLD weather!

Call me crazy...   I don't care.  But this song is all about my ex & I.  Sometimes, I miss him...

 DaveInVA wrote:

Makes me wonder why they thought sticking him in there would be a good idea...
 
I followed LongGoneDaddy's link and got the 50 Foot Wave version. Thanks.

I like Michael Stipe, though you don't have to. However, in the choruses that he sings with Kristin in her solo version, she raises her voice and screams them in the 50 Ft Wave one. Or call it a hoarse gargle. I'm just saying, she seems to have wanted that sound.
 EaLaSpada wrote:
Michael Stipe is the Michael McDonald of the late 90s. You can find him everywhere.
 
I thought he pretty much stuck with REM but Radio Paradise has shown me that he is quite a musical collaborator. 
 LongGoneDaddy wrote:


yup, agreed!  The 50 Ft Wave version (Kristin's band) is even better...check it out: https://50footwave.cashmusic.org/
 
Makes me wonder why they thought sticking him in there would be a good idea...

 DaveInVA wrote:
I really like this song except for the parts with Micheal Stipe squealing..
 

yup, agreed!  The 50 Ft Wave version (Kristin's band) is even better...check it out: https://50footwave.cashmusic.org/
 DaveInVA wrote:
I really like this song except for the parts with Micheal Stipe squealing..
 

Same here.
I really like this song except for the parts with Micheal Stipe squealing..
 reason06 wrote:
I was prepared to like this song. But then I looked up the lyrics and they don't make sense. Let who walk down your hall?
 
An approach. An essence.
They just used this song on Dollhouse, season 2, episode 8.
Very affecting. 
 EaLaSpada wrote:


Michael Stipe is the Michael McDonald of the late 90s. You can find him everywhere.
 
very funny  thanx

Nice, in a creepy sorta way. 
I think a different version (a cover, perhaps?) of this song was used in "Grey's Anatomy" last night...
Nice!
This works well for me..
 Mike_Sneade wrote:
Very nice. Is that Michael Stipe on backing vocals ?
 

Michael Stipe is the Michael McDonald of the late 90s. You can find him everywhere.
One of my favorite albums. Delighted to hear it here!
Haunting and enigmatic... Kristin continues to amaze and enchant 
 Lyndra_Ski wrote:
Thank you RP for introducing me to another great song that I otherwise would never hear unless on maybe KCRW in Los Angeles - thank god for you guys - keep donating to this station!
 Yes, indeed.

 Mike_Sneade wrote:
Very nice. Is that Michael Stipe on backing vocals ?
 

{#Yes}
Very nice. Is that Michael Stipe on backing vocals ?
{#Yes}
This has been one of my favorite CDs since it came out.  I saw her play at The Crocodile Lounge in Seattle, 1996, all big and pregnant and gorgeous and rockin.  Throwing Muses have been a fav for ages, but Kristin's solo stuff was even more awesome and haunting...{#Sunny}