The Ghost of You


"The Ghost of You" is the fourth and final single and sixth track from My Chemical Romance's second studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. "The Ghost of You" was released to radio on September 27, 2005. The song deals with the fear of loss. The song's title is an allusion to an ad from Watchmen, reading "Oh, how the ghost of you clings". The ad itself was an allusion to the song, "These Foolish Things". The song's lyrics deal with losing a loved one.

Music video

The music video was shot over two days in Malibu, California, and cost just over US $1,000,000 to make. Marc Webb directed the video. In an interview with Fuse, My Chemical Romance said "We shot a movie and just edited it to be a video. It's like if you put 'Helena' and 'I'm Not Okay ' together to make one long music video, it still would top that." It closely parallels the Omaha invasion scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan. Most of the video takes place at a USO dance where the band is performing, but, often switches over to a D-Day scene, in which the band members play as United States soldiers in fierce combat.
The video takes an emotional turn when bassist Mikey Way is shot and killed by Axis fire despite the medic's attempts to save him, adding emphasis to the aspects of loss in the song. This is foreshadowed in a bar scene where vocalist Gerard Way, his brother, appears to be reassuring him at a bar that he will be alright, and that there is no reason to be afraid. He is seen wearing a 1st Infantry Division patch in the video. Mikey "dies" with his eyes open. Gerard is restrained by his squadmates/band members as he sees his brother die, and is seen screaming as he tries to run to him. The 1st Infantry Division, the "Big Red One", were among the first wave on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. In Life on the Murder Scene, Ray is told to talk to Mikey to look like he is trying to save him. Obligingly, he shouts "Mikey! You're dead! "

Track listing

US promotional CD
UK promotional CD
UK 7" vinyl
UK CD1
UK CD2
iTunes EP

Charts

Release history