Hall was an active member of the burgeoning Coventry music scene of the late 1970s, playing in local punk band Squad, and being credited as a composer on their single "Red Alert" / "£8 a Week". This scene also produced acts such as The Selecter and Hazel O'Connor.
As the frontman for The Specials (though initially called The Coventry Automatics), Hall primarily struck it big in Britain in 1979 when BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel played their single "Gangsters" on his show; the song was included in his Festive Fifty at #7 in that year. The Specials' first self-titled album features some of Hall's most recognizable and notable performances, including "Little Bitch", "Nite Klub", "Concrete Jungle", and "Gangsters".
In October of 1980, The Specials released their second album, More Specials. While singing such fan-favourites such as "Enjoy Yourself", "Rat Race", and "Hey, Little Rich Girl", Terry successfully helped the band recreate the upbeat music that the first album possessed. The next album The Specials recorded, 1984's In The Studio, did not include Hall.
After The Specials' last single with Hall, the UK #1 hit "Ghost Town", Hall left the band to start a new-wave group, Fun Boy Three, with two other Specials members, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples. Fun Boy Three's first hit single occurred in late 1981, entitled "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)", then followed-up in early 1982 with "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", a duet with Bananarama. Fun Boy Three then provided guest vocals for Bananarama's single, "Really Saying Something". That same year, Hall and his bandmates appeared in the video for "Driving in My Car" by ska band, Madness. In February 1983, Fun Boy Three released Waiting. It consisted of the Top Ten hits "The Tunnel of Love" and the classic "Our Lips Are Sealed". The latter was a song Hall wrote with Jane Wiedlin, who had already made it into a hit the previous year with her group, The Go-Go's.
In 1984 Hall formed the Coventry based band The Colourfield, releasing the album Virgins & Philistines in 1985, which included the single "Thinking of You" (UK #12 hit single). This new musical direction would culminate in collaborations with the Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie, contributing a number of songs to the Seeds' Sense (1992), Jollification (1994), Dizzy Heights (1996) and Tilt (1999) albums. Hall also co-wrote the song "Smoke Rings" for Broudie's debut solo album Tales Told. The track was subsequently released as the lead track on the Smoke Rings EP.
In 2001 he appeared as a guest on the Gorillaz-D12 single "911", which was a song about terrorist attacks in the U.S.
In 2007 he provided vocals for many tracks on the Dub Pistols album Speakers and Tweeters.
Hall was still struggling with his mental health. In 2003, he had begun self-medicating with alcohol. In the last decade of his life, he sought medication, having been wary of it since being put on Valium as a teenager, as well as taking up art therapy.
“It got to a point where I didn’t have a choice – and it’s done me so much good,” he said. “Talking about mental health problems is a conscious decision. It’s something I want to share with people.”
Terry Hall, an early singer in influential ska/new wave group The Specials, died on Dec, 18, 2022. He sang on the band's first two albums, The Specials and More Specials and, after rejoining when The Specials reformed in 2008, he sang on an additional two records.
Ghost Town
Terry Hall Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All the clubs have been closed down
This place is coming like a ghost town
Bands won't play no more
Too much fighting on the dance floor
Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang and the music played in natty-boom town
This town is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against itself?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
This town is coming like a ghost town
Terry Hall's "Ghost Town" is a poignant portrayal of a society in decay, with Hall's lyrics and haunting melody painting a vivid picture of a town that has become a ghostly, deserted place. The song is widely recognized as a commentary on the economic and social decline of Coventry, the hometown of Hall and his bandmates. The 'ghost town' is an apt metaphor for a city that had fallen on hard times and suffered from mass unemployment and social unrest as a result of the recession that gripped much of the UK in the early 1980s.
The opening line, "This town is coming like a ghost town", suggests that the decay is a slow and gradual process, with more and more businesses closing their doors and people leaving. As the song progresses, Hall laments the situation, with lines such as "Bands won't play no more, too much fighting on the dance floor" and "No job to be found in this country" emphasizing the bleakness of the situation. The song's sense of desperation is heightened by the repeated refrain of "This town is coming like a ghost town", which echoes throughout the track, providing a chilling sense of inevitability.
Line by Line Meaning
This town is coming like a ghost town
The town is being deserted and abandoned, just like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
All the nightclubs and entertainment venues have been shut down
This place is coming like a ghost town
The whole area is becoming deserted and lifeless
Bands won't play no more
Musicians have stopped performing because of the violence and unrest
Too much fighting on the dance floor
Violence has erupted among the dancers and club-goers, resulting in the closure of the clubs
Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
Do you recall the time when this area was bustling with life and excitement before it became a ghost town?
We danced and sang and the music played in natty-boom town
We used to enjoy dancing, singing, and listening to music in the vibrant and lively town
Why must the youth fight against itself?
Why do young people engage in violence and conflict with each other?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
The government is neglecting and ignoring the youth, leaving them without opportunities
No job to be found in this country
There are no employment opportunities available in this country
Can't go on no more
People cannot continue to live in the current situation of unrest and poverty
The people getting angry
The citizens are becoming frustrated, upset, and outraged with the government and each other
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Jerry Dammers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@redrev674
RIP Terry Hall. I was 14 at comprehensive school when this came out. Loved everything Terry Hall was involved with. It was very much a track of its time but it is timeless
@davefb
About the same age.
We were leaving the uk for a family holday in france and this was the last tune we heard getting on the ferry. Just felt so 'right'.
RIP indeed. I feel broken..
@davidlester7066
RIP Terry Hall,Skinhead til i die
@Warp75
RIP Terry
@rayjr62
Agreed. One absurdly underrated singer. And admittedly even his own former band mates didn't know he was gravely ill. R.I.P..
@prbsnoop1974
Not really - it feels like we've come full circle
@LeeSparkes
Let us stand for our national anthem
@MacaqueStinx
Couldn't be any more relevant nowadays. The situation and cause may be different from back then, but the world is more of a ghost town now than ever before.
@thetopcat8946
@@MacaqueStinx Yes, I live in a very small town. This is the song I keep hearing replaying in my mind when I walk up a once busy road
@youngpotatoe6268
Father ted