Ghosts of Yesterday

August 15, 2023

“Open roads lay before me, I just wanna drive.”

The whole song is a drive forward. And the rear-view mirror is where the ghosts live.

That’s where this song starts. Behind the wheel, on an open road, with the past in the rear-view mirror. “No more thinking. There’s open skies ahead, I’m mesmerized. Towards my future, letting go my past, and all things in-between that hold me back.”

“I’m turning the page. I’m finding my way. I’m looking through the rear-view mirror at the ghosts of yesterday. It’s only love that can set us free. I’m looking through the rear-view mirror at the ghosts of yesterday, as they slowly fade away. Into dust, the ghosts of yesterday.”

The chorus hangs its hat on the connection between turning the page and finding my way. Turning the page isn’t pretending the past didn’t happen. It’s choosing to keep driving anyway. The ghosts are still there in the mirror, but they’re behind you. And the more you drive, the more they fade.

The chorus melody took us a few go-arounds to get where it is today. Greg and I kept coming back to it, turning it over, until the melody finally landed.

Sometimes a song can be at 99 percent and still not be done. If there’s even just a single word that’s off or not sitting right, it can make the whole song feel like it’s right back at the starting line. Not any closer to completion. Songwriting is like singing that way. I learned that over the years from working with Pete Lesperance. Pete’s an exceptional teacher! It’s all about laser precision. That’s the art of trying to create anything great.

“You are like the sun and moon.”

The sun and the moon are both sources of light. They appear at different times, the sun by day and the moon by night, but they represent the same truth. It is the light that guides the drive. The ghosts dissolve into dust behind you, but the light never goes out. It guides the drive, morning and night.

For some, that light is God. For others it’s a guardian angel. The song leaves it open, because it does not need a name. What matters is that it is there, and it does not fade. The ghosts fade. The light endures.

Harry Hess and Greg lend their voices to the middle 8, where the song opens and the harmonies gather.

The song was produced by Greg Fitzgerald. Sil Simone played all of the guitar parts, including the solo that sounds a lot like Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. The chorus outros rise and lift like “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals, wide open, the kind of feeling that will not let you go.

Have another listen and see if you can pick them out.

— Franklin

Ghosts of Yesterday — written by Franklin McKay and Greg Fitzgerald. Produced by Greg Fitzgerald. Vocals tracked at Dahl House Studios. Released August 15, 2023.

behind the music · franklin mckay