Song · Band of Horses
“Is There a Ghost” by Band of Horses
From the album Cease to Begin (2007)
“Is There a Ghost” by Band of Horses appears on 18 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 2007 and 2026. It was first released in 2007 on the album Cease to Begin. Its best result is #41 on The End Top 107 Songs of 2007. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #112 alternative song of 2007.
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"Is There a Ghost" led the singles off Band of Horses' second album, Cease to Begin, a 2007 Sub Pop release, and it does an awful lot with almost nothing. The words amount to a couple of lines, circled again and again, about sleeping alone and wondering what else might be in the house, and the music does the rest: a delicate picked figure that swells into a full-bore strum and crash, guitars stacked high but never buried in fuzz.
Ben Bridwell wrote it with Creighton Barrett and Rob Hampton, and Phil Ek produced, recorded and mixed it. Where much of the album leans toward Southern rock, this one keeps its indie heart, and it stood as the band's most successful song until "Casual Party" came along in 2016.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 78 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2007 | 91 |
| 2007 | 45 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2007 | 100 |
| 2007 | 41 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 2007 | 107 |
| 2007 | 68 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2007 | 103 |
| 2007 | 77 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2007 | 100 |
| 2008 | 97 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON | 102.1 The Edge's Top 102 Songs of 2008 | 102 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 293 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 205 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2013 | 669 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2018 | 428 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 1059 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2019 | 416 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2022 | 669 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 518 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 399 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 679 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2025 | 649 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2026 | 793 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: Is There a Ghost?; Is There A Ghost.
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