Ghosts

About

Written by Robbie Williams and Stephen Duffy, Ghosts opens Intensive Care with one of the most haunting and personal songs of Williams’ career. Built around a pulsing rhythm and cinematic strings, it reflects on lost love, regret and self-realisation. Williams described it as “my Vienna,” comparing its grandeur and introspection to Ultravox’s classic. He reportedly fought for it to be the first single from the album, convinced that it best represented where he was artistically.

The song grew from a programmed drum pattern that Duffy described as “a little like Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush.” Over this foundation, Williams crafted an epic narrative that blurs memory and fantasy. “Here I stand victorious, the only man to make you come,” he sings, introducing a mixture of humour and heartbreak. Later verses weave together spiritual imagery and references to his late aunt Josephine, giving the track a sense of mourning as well as transcendence.

It’s nostalgic and beautiful. It’s what I’m about and where I’m at. I can sing the life out of this one. It’s my Vienna.Robbie Williams

Though not chosen as a single, Ghosts became a fan favourite and one of Williams’ most critically admired recordings. Its sweeping orchestration, emotional candour and surreal storytelling capture the spirit of Intensive Care perfectly: romantic, restless and haunted by the past, yet yearning for redemption.