A haunting exploration of inherited expectations and corporate identity crisis. The song uses the metaphor of silk ties as nooses to examine how the narrator struggles between becoming his father's ghost in the business world versus finding his authentic self. The recurring question "Which ghost are you trying to become" drives home themes of generational pressure, corporate conformity, and the suffocating nature of living up to others' expectations. The imagery of boardrooms, colored ties for different days, and late-night moments of vulnerability creates a vivid portrait of modern masculine struggle.


Which Ghost

Morning mirror shows my father's face
Looking back through forty years of silk
While I practice tying knots he never taught me
Each noose another knot for what I've built
In boardrooms where his ghost still walks the halls
And I rehearse the words he used to say

Which ghost are you trying to become
When you wrap that silk around your throat
While your true self whispers from the shadows
Which ghost are you trying to become

There's a warden in my closet
Arranging colors like a mood ring chart
Monday morning burgundy for strength
Wednesday blue for video smiles with lies
Thursday's pattern hides what I destroy
While Friday's gold can't mask what's in my eyes

Which ghost are you trying to become
When you wrap that silk around your throat
When your souls light splits through corporate armor
Which ghost are you trying to become

At two AM I'm naked in the light
Red Windsor marks still pressed into my skin
These silk rosaries around my neck
The only prayers I remember how to sing
When did the noose become my daily bread
The corporate communion wine I drink

Which ghost am I trying to become
When I wrap this silk around my throat
When my gut strings play a different tune
My father's ghost or someone I've outgrown
Which ghost am I trying to become
The man I was before I learned to hide
Which ghost am I trying to become


Which Ghost

S F H music Auckland, New Zealand

Poet • Performer • Lyricist • Composer

Stephen Hollins is a New Zealand-born Renaissance artist whose four-decade career spans many genres of theatre, opera, improvisation, performance, poetry, writing and music. He transforms his poetry into songs blending psychology, performance, innovation and technology to create emotionally resonant and meaningful music.

His latest project, "Breakfast with Jung," is a groundbreaking multimedia collection exploring Carl Jung's psychological concepts through poetry and music—transforming a 400-page manuscript of 135 poems into a nine-album/chapter series that makes depth psychology accessible through an intimate musical and poetical journey toward the authentic Self that mirrors Jung's work.
"Support my music: https://sfhmusic.bandcamp.com"