# Songs That Are Also Ghost Stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 20, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342 "2021-02-20T12:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/21 "2021-02-20T17:33:49Z")
There’s the Charlie Daniels Band’s The Legend of Wooley Swamp.[The Charlie Daniels Band - The Legend Of Wooley Swamp.wmv - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz4MA2X-98) ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/22 "2021-02-20T17:37:27Z")
**Marc Cohn** does see and relate the story of the ghost of **Elvis** but it’s only for one verse of the song **Walking In Memphis** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PgRafRp-P-o/maxresdefault.jpg "Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRafRp-P-o) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/23 "2021-02-20T17:56:57Z")
[Casper’s brother has a song, too (sorta). [NSFW]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fz8re1Q-qc&ab_channel=KennyRoundaboutButtRedRobin20EpisodesShow) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/24 "2021-02-20T18:03:03Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IrkR7eytWbI/maxresdefault.jpg "Skin and Bones") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrkR7eytWbI) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/25 "2021-02-20T18:14:13Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UOwa_yBC0XU/hqdefault.jpg "1965 HITS ARCHIVE: Laurie (Strange Things Happen) - Dickey Lee") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwa_yBC0XU) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/26 "2021-02-20T18:57:48Z")
Hello - this is Joannie (telephone answering machine song) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wSEQaKBTR2M/hqdefault.jpg "Paul Evans - Hello This Is Joannie (Telephone Answering Machine Song) [HQ Audio]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSEQaKBTR2M) ---
**Author:** ![turtlescanfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/27 "2021-02-20T19:02:33Z")
From the country music genre: _Riding with Private Malone_ by David Ball is a pretty straight forward ghost story. The lyrics for _Colder Weather_ by Zac Brown Band are more ambiguous, but the music video interprets it as a ghost story. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/28 "2021-02-20T19:31:29Z")
The Ride (here’s David Allan Coe’s version) [David Allan Coe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBuRBE6jQc) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/29 "2021-02-20T20:04:33Z")
Thanks @Einsteinshund, that is a great version. And yeah, I had assumed that the song was a traditional standard, old as the hills folk tune. I always thought about the woman in the veil, jeez what a beeyotch. Cheats on her husband with his best friend, and then doesn’t say a word to exonerate him when he’s being hanged. Also, the evidence seemed awful flimsy and circumstantial to hang a guy on. A resemblance to a someone running away in the dark? Guy had bad luck in women AND lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/30 "2021-02-20T20:27:42Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Great version I hadn’t heard, thanks! I’ve also always liked the Band’s take on the song: I mean, if we’re doing versions of Long Black Veil, I gotta mention Nick Cave’s: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/huUEmEcBAMY/hqdefault.jpg "Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Long Black Veil") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huUEmEcBAMY) Where the Wild Roses Grow, of course, is also told from the perspective of the murder victim (and yeah, I’m linking to the version where Blixa Bargeld does the part of Eliza Day on purpose…) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j2bceSRIeDY/hqdefault.jpg "Nick Cave & Blixa Bargeld - Where The Wild Roses Grow") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2bceSRIeDY) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/31 "2021-02-20T21:02:10Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I mean, if we’re doing versions of Long Black Veil, I gotta mention Nick Cave’s: Did not know that version existed. The first time I listened i thought wtf- it starts out as like this traditional arrangement of what sounds like a barbershop quartet on Valium, then Nick Cave comes in being all Nick Cavey, with an occasional sound effect that sounds like banshee howls in the background. On my second listen it started growing on me though. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/32 "2021-02-20T21:38:46Z")
“Dawson’s Christian” by Duane Elms. [Carmen Miranda's Ghost 02 - Dawson's Christian - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=w34fSnJNP-4) “Carmen Miranda’s Ghost” by Leslie Fish. [Carmen Miranda's Ghost 01 - Carmen Miranda's Ghost - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5p8YhhaVlA) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/33 "2021-02-20T22:25:17Z")
> [@solost](#): > > On my second listen it started growing on me though. The whole album (Kicking Against the Pricks) is a bit like that. Great take on All Tomorrow’s Parties, somewhat of an unexpected version of Hey Joe. As for the OP, here’s The Decemberists’ Hazards of Love part III, where the murdered children come to haunt the father who killed them. Great use of the inherent creepiness of children’s choirs. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7Gz7QGmy_Zg/maxresdefault.jpg "The Hazards of Love III (Revenge!) - The Decemberists (Lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gz7QGmy_Zg) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/34 "2021-02-20T22:37:05Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Here are a couple of versions: The definitive version of the song (and the one that was a crossover, reaching #1 in 1949) was by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra. It was the only song I ever heard my stepfather say he liked. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zyDNnQbbkSQ/hqdefault.jpg "Vaughn Monroe - Riders in the Sky - 1965 concert performance") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyDNnQbbkSQ) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/35 "2021-02-20T22:38:26Z")
I was going to post this one. Nick Cave must have some ghost stories, though they tend to be more about people dying rather than anything afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/36 "2021-02-20T22:48:31Z")
How could I forget this? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KJzWGkgFcTU/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB9BMXKPYZwWtt2egZ8cDta0_dbiA "Squirrel Nut Zippers - Ghost of Stephen Foster") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJzWGkgFcTU) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/37 "2021-02-20T22:55:58Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Nick Cave must have some ghost stories, though they tend to be more about people dying rather than anything afterwards. That’s a good call, and similarly I instantly thought of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan when I read the OP and scanned my inner Cash and Dylan song databases for ghost songs. They both have done so many classic folk songs and wrote dark tales on their own that they seemed the best sources. I soon thought of “Long Black Veil”, but still draw a blank for Dylan, though “The Man In The Long Black Coat” has a very supernatural air about him and may be a ghost, but maybe also the devil or death itself. I’ll throw it in for consideration anyway. Then, there’s the great famous line from “Visions Of Johanna”, “the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face”, and though it’d be stretch to call it a ghost song, it has a spooky and otherworldly atmosphere. Then maybe it was only the drugs back then… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8JuLKtz_EH8/maxresdefault.jpg "Bob Dylan - Man in the Long Black Coat (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JuLKtz_EH8) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AwuCF5lYqEE/maxresdefault.jpg "Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwuCF5lYqEE) ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/38 "2021-02-20T23:16:36Z")
If we take the official video as canon then **Stay** by **Shakespear’s Sister** has the lover of a comatose and dying man fighting a personification of Death to claim him back. Which is either a Ghostly story or a ‘narrowly averted’ to coin a phrase. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YCYaALgW80c/maxresdefault.jpg "Shakespears Sister - Stay (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCYaALgW80c) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/39 "2021-02-20T23:26:54Z")
The Thing That Should Not Be! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bYJGt67Mwmo/maxresdefault.jpg "Metallica - The Thing That Should Not Be (HD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJGt67Mwmo) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342/40 "2021-02-20T23:32:18Z")
Garden Party, by Rickie Nelson. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHR7_VZdRw) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-also-ghost-stories/933342.md?page=3)