Ghosts Again

**Ghosts Again** is the lead single from Depeche Mode's album, Memento Mori. It was released on February 9, 2023.

## Ghosts Again

### Studio

Electric Ladyboy (Santa Barbara)Shangri-La (Malibu)

### Single(s)

**Ghosts Again** - released on February 3, 2023My Cosmos Is Mine - released on March 9, 2023

### Next Track

Don't Say You Love Me

It reached Top 20 in the UK Singles Sales charts, something that the band haven't accomplished since their 2006 single "Martyr".

## Background

The song marks the first single release since the death of co-founder and keyboardist Andy Fletcher in May 2022. To Dave Gahan, the song "captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy", while Martin Gore added that the song has "such an upbeat feel to it" and how rare it is for the band to record a song that "I just don't get sick of listening to".

## Composition

In light of the death of Fletcher, the "reflective, mid-tempo" synth-pop song sees the two members commenting on motifs of death: the fragility of life and the possibility of an afterlife. Throughout the song, the duo keeps reminding the listener that every life will eventually turn into "ghosts again". However, it also gives the idea of being reunited with one another in some form, possibly as "ghosts".

Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs is co-credited with lyrics and composition alongside Martin Gore.

## Reception

"Ghosts Again" reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Sales Chart. It has gained both commercial and critical acclaim.

*Atwood Magazine* praised the song, saying, "The aching stark beauty of the song and video is one to be unfurled within your own existence in pondering the spheres of life and death while seizing the fleeting time that life offers us. In this new single, we witness Depeche Mode writing and creating music that continues to set them into their own stratosphere of music that is like no other – an unparalleled band that always enables us to consider our own existence with greater forms of clarity and insight on the joy and melancholy of the human condition. 'Ghosts Again' is a sublime reveal by Depeche Mode, with Gore and Gahan aspiring to new heights of their creative powers in creating a song of perfection for the ages."

Music magazine *Clash* was positive on the composition stating, "Taken from the LP, new song ‘Ghosts Again’ pivots between light and shade, the imposing crunch of the electronics lit up by some distant form of hope. Expertly done, it finds Depeche Mode drawing on their decades of experiences, while also embracing new ideas... Challenging and emotive, it’s also a pop song, with the English legends refusing to stray too far from their roots."

## Music video

The music video was filmed in New York City and released on 9 February 2023. It was directed by longtime visual collaborator Anton Corbijn. The story focuses on Gore and Gahan reenacting the chess game with Death in Ingmar Bergman's *The Seventh Seal* (1958) on an urban rooftop. It alternates with scenes of the two performing in a cemetery.

## Track listing

Digital download and 7″

German 7″

Remixes

## Charts

Chart performance for "Ghosts Again"
 Czech Republic (Rádio – Top 100)
 Germany (Official German Charts)
 Hungary (Rádiós Top 40)
 Hungary (Single Top 40)
 Latvia Airplay (LAIPA)
 Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)
 Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)
 Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)
 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)
 UK Singles Sales (UK Singles Chart)
 US Adult Alternative Songs (*Billboard*)
 US Alternative Airplay (*Billboard*)
 US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (*Billboard*)
 US Rock Airplay (*Billboard*)

## Lyrics

Wasted feelings

Broken meanings

Time is fleeting

See what it brings

Hellos, goodbyes, a thousand midnights

Lost in sleepless lullabies

Heaven's dreaming

Thoughtless thoughts, my friends

We know we'll be ghosts again

Sunday's shining

Silver linings

Weightless hours

All my flowers

A place to hide the tears that you cried

Everybody says goodbye

Faith is sleeping

Lovers, in the end

Whisper we'll be ghosts again

Heaven's dreaming

Thoughtless thoughts, my friends

We know we'll be ghosts again

Faith is sleeping

Lovers, in the end

Whisper we'll be ghosts again

## Sources

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts\_Again
* https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/Ghosts\_Again
* https://genius.com/Depeche-mode-ghosts-again-lyrics