Ghost Town

Album: Come of Age (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • Vaccines vocalist Justin Young told NME about this atmospheric tune: "It's got a good groove, it would make me dance. It takes its mood, the atmosphere from the lyrics. It's throwaway, but I don't think that's a bad thing."
  • Justin Young wrote the lyrics, which describe the feeling of being alone in a town where nothing is going on. He tries to convince someone to leave their dead community and join him, so neither is alone in their lifeless town.
  • A ghost town is a place that was once a thriving community but has since been abandoned by its inhabitants. Some ghost towns result from natural disasters, while others were abandoned because of economic changes, such as the decline of a particular industry or the failure of a local business. Several artists have released songs titled "Ghost Town" that detail their once-thriving locality that fell on hard times, most famously The Specials in 1981.

    Others have used a "Ghost Town" to paint a picture of the Covid lockdown (The Rolling Stones), a relationship gone cold (Benson Boone), heartbreak (Jake Owen and Adam Lambert), or letting go of fear and pain (Kanye West).

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