Music: Your Ghost

Ever hear a great song for the first time, assume that it's a new release, and then realize that the song's actually been around for years?

In some ways, it can be an unsettling experience - after all, if there's one great song that you missed on your journey through life, how many more are out there? And not just songs, either; through dumb luck, have you missed running into your favorite books, movies, games...perhaps even people?

I prefer to look at it in a glass-half-full kind of way: it's comforting to know that however many great songs you listen to, there's plenty more to be discovered. Today, for instance, I first heard "Your Ghost" by Kristin Hersh (featuring backing vocals from R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe):



In the years since the album version, Hersh and her voice have aged, giving her live performances a haunting, weatherbeaten quality. Check out the difference: