Song of the Week - Conversation with a Ghost (Dec 4 2006)

[Richard + Jela]

If someone asked me to choose just one Ellis Paul song, which I know is an impossible task, but if pushed, for me, it would have to be 'Conversation with a Ghost'

Many moons ago when I first heard it I just loved the song, there was something about it that just gave me goosebumps however it wasn't until I read 'Notes from the Road' in 2003 that I understood what it was about and reading that just blew me away.

For those of you who may not know, the song is about Ellis' friend Allison Higgins who lent him his first guitar when he was 20 years old. Sadly she died prematurely from leukemia and in this song she is conversing with Ellis via an ouija board 'I'll respond to you in letters' through the spirit of Margaret (Putnam).

The song includes references to personal events that Allison would have only known 'is your sister in braces?' and 'have you been to the races' .......snippets of life......a sister growing up, Ellis running in track races before injury put paid to that career.

It was whilst he was injured that he picked up the guitar and started writing songs.

When I hear 'Conversation' and incidentally Patty Griffin's vocals are superb on the song, I always picture Allison looking down from above and being so proud to have seen what she started and how Ellis' career has developed in to the successful artist that he is today. Where might we (Ellis Paul fans) be if she hadn't lent him that guitar? It was the beginning of something very special that for me personally has transcended continents and resulted in good friendships being formed. So thank you, Allison and continue to rest in peace.

More recently, in May when Ellis played in Cheltenham, England, without my knowledge, Richard asked him to play 'Conversation' for me, which Ellis did, so that is a lovely memory.

What has recently added to the icing on the cake is that a couple of weeks ago I made a request to Bob Harris of BBC Radio 2 asking for 'Conversation' to be played and got my wish! Ellis on national radio here in the UK - Woo Hoo !!!!!

Quite a short song but such depth of meaning in the lyrics:

I'll respond to you in letters
Sorry so slow, sorry so few
In a nutshell, I'm much better
So far the complaints I hear are few
So how have you been? Have you been to the races? Did you take my mother --
Is your sister in braces? I wish I could've been there to see you through
Hey, are all those things you told me once still true?

Do you remember that time
It was cold in the park
You were running a race, I was there on a lark
Who would've thought that New York could be such a small town

Margaret is tired,
let's let her get some sleep
Bored with these letters,
let her count her sheep
So goodbye love, goodbye love...

© Ellis Paul/End Construction Publishing (ASCAP) 1992


Jela

[Thomas]

Hi Jela,
thank you for kicking off the discussion.

I loved the song from the first note I listened to. And that was years ago. "Conversation with a ghost" still is one of the favourites of my all time favourites... It's a song that touches me eyery time I listen to it. It's so moving and often I realize that I'm crying while listening. And that initially happened even without knowing what the song was about. I've had a similar experience like you had when I was reading about it in Ellis "Notes from the road".
I love the strings in the song and Patti's lovely elfin (right word?) voice (just like in "Paris in a day"), it's truly just a few words in the song but quite enough and it's a song full of emtions. To me it's one of the best songs Ellis ever wrote. Thank everyone who got involved to this one.
Thomas

[2bluesboys]

This is one of my favorite EP songs.

I believe it is one of those songs where the music speaks without words. I think I would have understood what the deep feelings of the song conveyed even if I didn't speak a word of English.

This song just reached down inside me and joined my heart with my soul. The minute I heard it I felt the presence of people I have lost in life yet still remain with me in spirit. CWAG still makes me cry with happiness at having known these loved ones and cry with wistfulness at still missing them. It reminds me that my dad never met my sons (they were born long after he died) but yet I know he is still with us.

I didn't learn the history of the song until about a year after hearing it.

I could hear this song a thousand times and never tire of it. It's like watching & feeling a fire in the fireplace on a cold day. There is always familiar to feel comforting, yet new to inspire me.

Barbara

[paddyinthepub]

This is of course one of our all time favorite EP songs as well. Always loved to hear Ellis sing this one back in the day. I recall learning the back story with the ouiga board and thinking it was amazing.

I'll respond to you in letters
Sorry so slow, sorry so few
In a nutshell, I'm much better
So far the complaints I hear are few

Before learning the meaning of "letters" in this song, I assumed it was the type of letters people write each other in correspondence. Imagine my surprise to hear about the "letters".

The line that has Ellis singing "I'm much better" seemed to be Ellis explaining that the music he was writing was improving, in essence saying it's coming together for him, it sounds good, and there are few complaints.

I hope that's the sentiment that Ellis was trying to convey......because that is always the way I've processed the last two lines of the first verse.

I could be off track.........

[Richard + Jela]

Paddy - I have a different take on these words - I've always pictured these words being said by Allison (who died of leukemia) and now that she's gone to another place the illness she had on earth is no longer affecting her hence

In a nutshell, I'm much better
So far the complaints I hear are few

Interesting how we all put our own interpretation on the words and thats what makes the SOTW discussions such fun.


Jela

[paddyinthepub]

Jela,

Thank you for responding to this point of the song. It is truly
something the way one can hear a song and interpret the lyric
in a completely different light than others or even the intent
of the songwriter.

To me it was always Ellis saying I'm getting better at playing music
and so far the complaints I hear are few.

I see now that I could be way off track as to who is speaking
those words....makes sense to me now that it's likely Alison.

[Sue Ellen]

Jela et al., Thank you so much for you thoughts and insights...I'm always amazed at the layers of meaning people pull out of these songs. This one is so beautiful, isn't it? The melody is so mournfully hopeful; even though it is melancholy, it is healing...a fond remembering of someone whose loss left a huge void, the memories of whom continue to uplift and empower...

This is a favorite for my kids, I think because they think of Ellis Paul first as a great runner, and they like that he references races (I asked him once, and he did say he meant foot/road races, although at the time I thought he was just humouring me...) and probably some race in Central Park...Not the NYC Marathon, but some race.

I am so glad it is included in this collection.

Sue Ellen

Oh, and I was thinking also the narrator, Alison was saying in a nutshell she's much better...but, I think Paddy's interpretation has merit as well, another layer of meaning.

[KarenZ]

To me, it's always been a one-way conversation.....the "ghost" was never the one doing the speaking. I've always thought that Ellis was "better" (emotionally) now that some time had passed since her death. And the "few complaints" are his friends who don't need to nag him as much as before...when perhaps he wasn't doing as good (emotionally). But I could be way off base.

That's why music is an art.

KarenZ

[Patti]

hmmm...I guess I always thought of it as a two way conversation..but upon reading again it could be one way.. but I think the opposite of Karen and think it is "the ghost talking" the entire time...

[Sue Ellen]

It took me a while after first hearing this to also conclude in my head that it's a one-way conversation with the Ghost as the speaker...Especially hearing/reading the backdrop of song: "I'll respond to you in letters." With ouiji boards the theory is that it's the spirit who responds by spelling things out in the letters on the boards; Although "Conversation" implies at least two, right? so maybe not a one-way conversation, but one speaker's response within a conversation.

Sue Ellen

[Patti]

I was too tired to type this last night...

I think "she" is saying... I'm better, I am no longer sick or suffering...

The complaints I hear are few... people/friends from her life talking/complaining that her life is over...

Is your sister in braces... the person alive wouldn't ask this of the ghost..

[Richard + Jela]

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who responed to this SOTW discussion.

As always its fascinating to read what others think about a particular song, the different interpretations placed upon it and how we put meaning to lyrics based our individual experiences.

Whatever we think about the 'conversation' in the song there's no doubt it is extremely moving. I wonder what thoughts go through Ellis' mind when he sings it?

Jela

[JennyLevE]

It is always interesting to speculate about what people think about when they sing a song that they wrote.

Sometimes it is completely predictable and sometimes it has nothing to do with the song at all.

I know that sometimes I sing about one thing, and am thinking about something completely different. Sometimes I do this to make my voice sound a certain way and other times I am just distracted, or running down some strange stream of consciousness triggered by one of the words or lines of the song.

I would suspect that when someone is singing a song to which they have so much emotional attachment, as i believe this one does, s/he tends not to focus on those emotions, in order to better perform the song, but I might be wrong.

We will never know! lol

--Jen