Ghost Love Score

Note on the video: I can't say I completely understand some of the audience members as they're shown in this live video, and I certainly want to be at the bottom of a crowded stage being constantly pushed... maybe that's just me! I went ahead and chose this video because I was impressed with the live performance of the song. As that is true, I also shake my head a little in amusement and concern for the culture shown here. Mostly it's funny to me that I feel such a rich, symphonic work invites serious discussion... until I see the lead singer banging her head and spinning her hair around during certain parts of the song. It makes me feel like the artists would never have wanted me to put this much thought into what I've written, but then again, I recognize that that is a poor stereotype on my part - again, I'm mostly just expressing personal amusement here.

"Ghost Love Score" and the band Nightwish take me back to high school and my freshman year of college. I was introduced to them by my older brother and felt great intrigue for the juxtaposition of styles that they produced. I hadn't heard this song in quite some time, so when I saw the link to a video of it on my brother's Facebook page, I thought it would make great material for this blog.

STUDENTS: There is a lot of technical language in the commentary below, not to mention that it is long. I don't necessarily expect all of it to make sense, but I hope you'll at least make an effort to read and follow as much as you can.

Music Commentary
I actually want to start my analysis of "Ghost Love Score" by talking about the music.

While I would never claim to be an expert on musical form, I would venture to call "Ghost Love Score" a rhapsody. Rhapsodies are "free-form" works, meaning they are difficult or impossible to box into normal form structures (which we classify with letters, such as ABA or ABACA, etc.) "Ghost Love Score" fluidly flows through a wide range of musical ideas that, to me, don't outwardly have much connection (if I took time to analyze more, maybe more connections wait to be discovered).

Beyond being a rhapsody, I would dare say that the construction and execution of "Ghost Love Score" approaches that of a Romantic era symphonic poem. Symphonic poems are one-movement orchestral works that paint a picture, tell a story, or evoke different moods in the listener. Though symphonic poems did not have lyrics sung with them, the duration of the work, its orchestral scoring, and the emotional impact it achieves make it worth our time and consideration.

I remember one of my first points of intrigue with this song being its rhythmic fluctuations, and now some years later, I feel no differently. "Ghost Love Score" uses a variety of meters throughout the different sections (part of why I classify it as a rhapsody). I hear many parts of the song as a triple feel with eighth note or dotted quarter pulses driving the motion of the song; however, there are other places (the opening "we used to swim...") that are simple 4/4 time.

After the bold opening, we immediately get a feel for the journey this song has prepared for us. The punctuated choral "ahs" falling on a mix of down-beats and off-beats lead directly into various asymmetrical breaks in the time. Honestly, if I had to sit down and dictate the opening, I wouldn't know where to begin on writing out the time signature and rhythm - maybe I'm just overthinking it.

Melodically speaking, the various sections of this song all skillfully utilize tension and release to bring a natural rise and fall to the music. Part of this may be from the use of various themes that are sequenced within the section and then resolved at the close of the section. One of my favorite moments is "recapitulation" of sorts (or return to opening material) that happens around three-fourths of the way through. The "redeem me into childhood" lyrics punch into "My fall will be for you..." which has the rich, gorgeous soprano obbligato (or countermelody) floating over top of it.

To close the musical portion of analysis, I will mention to other crucial aspects of a composition: harmony and instrumentation. Because my ear is slow to analyze harmony just from listening, it would take me forever to really work through the progressions of this song. Overall, I think the harmonies are fairly straightforward, but at the same possessing much more depth than I would expect from a heavy metal-geared band. I hear the harmonic colors shine through most in the "bring me home" section and following "forgive the adoring beast."

The instrumentation (or deliberate selection of instruments) approaches film score technique, and it is great in this song. To highlight, once again, the "recapitulation" section at the end, the brass herald is absolutely perfect for ushering in the close of the song. The string writing is well-developed in both the lush, chordal sections and the rhythmic, bouncing sections. The overlap with classical music is especially clear to me during the instrumental break midway through, when the woodwinds and strings come to a back-and-forth that sounds to me like it was pulled out of Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre."

I could keep going on and on. Hopefully you can see the point that I feel "Ghost Love Score," musically speaking, obviously earns the right to be seriously considered and studied for its aesthetic value.

Now onto the lyrics...

Analysis Method: "MALL"
Key -
M = What is the meaning of the lyrics?
A = The lyrics are clearly against Biblical teaching.
L = I don't know what the Bible says about these lyrics.
L = I can glorify God when I listen to these lyrics. 

Lyrics

We used to swim the same moonlight waters
Oceans away from the wakeful day
I find this to be a poetic expression of remembrance and/or imagining - both of which can be great things.

My fall will be for you
My love will be in you
If you be the one to cut me
I'll bleed forever
Though I know this is out of context, when I hear the passionate music behind this section, I envision the first part of this refrain as Jesus' words to us. Isaiah 53 makes clear that Jesus' death was for us, and from that death the apostle John bursts into praise: "Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children. And we are!" (1 John 3:1).
The second part, however, is clearly against Biblical teaching. In light of Jesus' sacrifice, Scripture teaches that no wound should go so deep as to not be forgiven, which is what these lyrics imply. Jesus set the clear example there by forgiving the soldiers at the cross. 

Scent of the sea before waking afterwards
Brings me to thee
Into the blue memory

My fall will be for you

Into the blue memory
---------------------
A siren from the deep came to me
Sang my name my longing
Still I write my songs about that dream of mine
Worth everything I may ever be
I hear these lyrics as steadfastness to stay on course regardless of temptations that come, and I appreciate the conviction to follow after dreams - hoping, of course, that they are inspired by God. The problem, however, is that from Scripture's teachings, our dreams should not be synonymous with our worth. Our worth should come from God.

The Child will be born again
That siren carried him to me
First of them true lovers
Singing on the shoulders of an angel
Without care for love n' loss
-------------------------
Bring me home or leave me be
My love in the dark heart of the night
I have lost the path before me
the one behind will lead me

Take me
Cure me
Kill me
Bring me home
Every way
Every day
Just another loop in the hangman's noose

Take me, cure me, kill me, bring me home
Every way, every day
I keep on watching us sleep

Relive the old sin of
Adam and Eve
Of you and me
Forgive the adoring beast
-----------------------
Redeem me into childhood
Show me myself without the shell
Like the advent of May
I'll be there when you say
Time to never hold our love

My fall will be for you 

I have had a really hard time thinking through the lyrics to "Ghost Love Score." I have avoided a lot of lyric to lyric analysis because overall it might need to be taken as a whole. I can hear a strong love story in the poetry, and yet I also get a sense of spiritual overtones. I'm not entirely sure how literal verses abstract the artists intended, and from a brief search online it seems that others feel the same way.

One thing that I do pick up is an anticipation for restoration and forgiveness, despite some of the bitter tones that the middle of the song might be implying. While I feel that "Ghost Love Score" misses the mark of ultimately expressing redemption and hope as the Christian worldview supports, I appreciate how, both musically and lyrically, there is a sense of closure or satisfaction that comes after the outpouring of emotion - and that is key. Songs may have some tough or questionable or sinful content, but the question I have to ask as a follower of Christ is: "How is that content handled?" In this case, again, my ears and intuition tell me that the artists feel the weight of something more being out there, and a bit of that light shines through in this song.

My conclusion after digging deeply into this song would be a reminder that I have freedom in Christ to listen, but in that freedom I have to remember that not all things are beneficial. This song is musically inspiring to me, but lyrically there are many moments that still leave me scratching my head and don't necessarily point me in the same spiritual direction as other songs I could choose to listen to. That leaves me with being okay listening to "Ghost Love Score" on occasion, but it is probably not a song I will choose to listen to on a regular basis.