Bruce Springsteen Releases New Track, ‘Ghosts’ and Video

Bruce Springsteen’s birthday was yesterday, but the fans got a present today (Sept. 24) with the release of “Ghosts,” the second single from the forthcoming release, Letter to You.

“Ghosts’ is about the beauty and joy of being in a band, and the pain of losing one another to illness and time,” Springsteen has said in a previous interview. ” ‘Ghosts’ tries to speak to the spirit of the music itself, something none of us owns but can only discover and share together. In the E Street Band, it resides in our collective soul, powered by the heart.”

The song serves as a tribute to Springsteen’s first band, , The Castiles, who were together from 1965 to 1968, and specifically the band’s late leader, singer-guitarist George Theiss.

The accompanying video includes photos of that group as well as images of the E Street Band through the ages. Especially poignant is the inclusion of late E Streeters Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici .

Here are the song’s lyrics:

I hear the sound of your guitar
Comin’ in from the mystic far
The stone and the gravel in your voice
Come in my dreams and I rejoice

It’s just your ghost
Moving through the night
Your spirit filled with light
I need, need you by my side
Your love and I’m alive

I’m alive and I can feel the blood shiver in my bones
I’m alive and I’m out here on my own
I’m alive and I’m coming’ home
Yeah I’m comin’ home

The old buckskin jacket you always wore
Hangs on the back of my bedroom door
The boots and the spurs you used to ride
Click down the hall but never arrive

It’s just your ghost
Moving through the night
Your spirit filled with light
I need, need you by my side
Your love and I’m alive

I’m alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones
I’m alive and I’m out here on my own
I’m alive and I’m coming’ home

Your old Fender Twin from Johnny’s Music downtown
Still set on 10 to burn this house down
Count the band in then kick into overdrive
By the end of the set we leave no one alive

Ghosts runnin’ through the night
Our spirits filled with light

I need
Need you by my side
Your love and I’m alive

I shoulder your Les Paul and finger the fretboard
I make my vows to those who’ve come before
I turn up the volume, let the spirits be my guide
Meet you brother and sister on the other side

I’m alive
I can feel the blood shiver in my bones
I’m alive and I’m out here on my own
I’m alive and I’m comin’ home
Yeah I’m comin’ home

Letters to You will be released on Oct. 23.