The world of rock and roll is full of saccharine love ballads saturated with empty promises. Declarations of everlasting courtship were often sung towards nonexistent individuals for the sake of making a quick buck off the profitable “power ballad.” There’s no denying that there’s some sincerity in those songs, yet a lot of them rely on a similar statement: “I love you, I miss you, please come back,” etc.
By the early 90s, drummer Neil Peart was already established as one of the most proficient lyricists of the rock genre. He wrote songs covering philosophy, social hierarchy, anxiety and freedom of choice, but despite a wide range of topics, romance was not a common theme in Rush’s discography until 1991’s Roll the Bones. One of their singles, titled Ghost of a Chance, is a no-bullshit love song about the fascinating process of finding “the one.” No hollow, cliched statements to be found, Ghost of a Chance takes an observational perspective, and it puts all the rock ballads you’ve ever swooned over to shame.
Because everything Peart points out in the verses is true: every choice we make, every door we open, it all leads us to something. And for most folks, the successful ones at least, those doors might lead them to a lover. Peart clarifies in the pre-chorus that, “I don’t believe in destiny/or the guiding hand of fate” nor does he believe in astrological prophecies, or guardian angels; rather, he accepts life and its many possibilities for what it is. “I believe there’s a ghost of a chance/we can find someone to love/and make it last,” he declares, at the very end of the chorus, leading into an echoey Lifeson guitar lick.
While it’s a very blunt, dare I say nihilistic take on the process of finding that special someone, there’s an aura of hope around it. Take the lines “Somehow we find each other/through all that masquerade/somehow we found each other/somehow we have stayed.” The lyrics simultaneously question the very existence of fate while acknowledging it. Somehow, somehow, somehow. Peart denies the guidance of a higher power while understanding there’s got to be something special behind our path towards everlasting love, even if it isn’t exactly magical in nature.
I’m a spiritual person. I look to tarot readers, who will pull their four of wands and two of cups and steer me in the right direction. I look at my parents and suddenly the concept of meeting one’s soulmate feels as achievable as breathing, at least with patience. With that being said, Ghost of a Chance covers a variety of beliefs and stances on the soulmate debate. There’s never going to be any scientific proof towards the existence of that“invisible string,” or the claim that Leo and Taurus is a doomed combination, or the idea that a respective God has crafted someone just for you. What is true, however, is that the doors we open and paths we choose to take always lead us to a fate of some sort. There are millions of instances where one’s fate happens to be love. Even though we can’t control everything that leads us to love, there’s comfort in knowing that the butterfly effects of life just might take us there. There’s a Ghost of a Chance life will take us there.
