Ghost of David

Ghost of David is an album by the singer-songwriter Damien Jurado, released in 2000 on Sub Pop records. The David of the title is Jurado's friend and former bandmate in Coolidge, David Bazan, who is most famously Pedro the Lion's frontman. In tone, Ghost of David is bleak, spare, and depressing. Most of its thirteen songs concern or tell tragic stories of deception and death. For example, "Medication," the album's opener, is a first-person tale: the narrator, under the strain of having an adulterous affair with a police officer's wife as well as caring for his mentally unbalanced brother, prays for his brother's death. "December" laments a man who froze to death in his car. "Paxil," as its title suggests (referring to an anti-depressant drug), mentions medicating "a heart that doesn't work." The title track came from a dream Jurado had that his friend David Bazan had died, and the words he would have said to comfort his widow.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Pitchfork Media	(8.2/10) link

Ghost of David
Studio album by Damien Jurado
Released	September 19, 2000
Genre	Indie rock
Length	43:55
Label	Sub Pop
Damien Jurado chronology
Rehearsals for Departure (1999) Ghost of David (2000) I Break Chairs (2002)

Track listing

1. "Medication" – 4:34
2. "Desert" – 2:57
3. "Johnny Go Riding" – 3:42
4. "Great Today" – 2:58
5. "Tonight I Will Retire" – 5:09
6. "Ghost of David" – 2:34
7. "Parking Lot" – 4:00
8. "Rearview" – 2:05
9. "Paxil" – 2:16
10. "Walk with Me" – 3:16
11. "December" – 4:19
12. "Rosewood Casket" – 2:58
13. "Ghost in the Snow" – 3:07