2021-07-22

The ghost in me

The Psychedelic Furs    
I caught a blast from the past the other day in a random sampling of mpeg music on my NAS server. It was The Ghost in You by The Psychedelic Furs — one of those groups I listened to regularly while employed on the West coast in the very early 1980s.

It took me back to a place and time I didn't really enjoy, but it made me from a "stand on your own skills" perspective. There I learned to take mincomputers apart and put them back together ... and they still operated well.

I became skilled with single and multiuser operating systems, migrated to microcomputers and CP/M — and wouldn't see MS-DOS for several more years.

The Psychedelic Furs are a post punk group from Great Britain who were founded in 1977 London. I was still in the Navy at that time and actually, in Portsmouth and taking trips to London concurrently with their startup.

We didn't encounter each other in person. I have been a fan of their recordings, however. They have offerings which span the gamut of art rock though new wave and even hard rock.

I first heard them being played in Tower Records on Rockfield BL in what was then El Toro ... but is now called Lake Forest, California. It was also my first encounter with mens haircuts featuring blonde pates and black sidewalls trimmed with safety pins and razor blades shudders.

My street address there was on Lake Forest Drive. The road remains but now Lake Forest is also the whole bloody town.

After a goodly hiatus, The Psychedelic Furs released a studio album titled Made of Rain which was their first such release in 30 some odd years.

It's amazing how resilient some of us are, eh sweet Elizabeth from the green grocer ?


The Ghost In You

A man in my shoes runs a light
And all the papers lied tonight
But falling over you
Is the news of the day
Angels fall like rain
And love, love, love
Is all of heaven away (Love, love, love, love, love)

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

A race is on, I'm on your side
And here in you, my engines die
I'm in a mood for you
Or running away
Stars come down in you
And love, love, love
You can't give it away (Love, love, love, love, love)

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade

Don't you go, it makes no sense
When all your talk and supermen
Just take away the time
And get in the way
Ain't it just like rain?
And love, love, love
Is only heaven away (Love, love, love, love, love)

Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves

Lyrics by Richard Butler and Timothy George Butler