Ghost Return to 1969 With Retro-Style New Song About the Future

It had been suspected that Ghost would be releasing a new song to coincide with their new movie, Rite Here Rite Now, which premiered earlier this week in London.

At the premiere, mastermind Tobias Forge showed up to the red carpet with a new look, resembling Metallica‘s James Hetfield‘s early ’90s appearance.

Rite Here Rite Now is a concert film with some traditional theatrical storytelling elements and is Ghost’s first-ever feature length movie. At the end, the band teases their next era with the death of Sister Imperator, who we learn is the mother of Papa Emeritus IV and Papa takes on the rank of Father Imperator.

READ MORE: What Critics Are Saying About Ghost’s ‘Rite Here Rite Now’ Film

While the future holds so much to look forward to, Ghost tack a trip back to 1969, just like they had on 2019’s Seven Inches of Satanic Panic single which featured the now mega-viral “Mary On a Cross.”

“The Future Is a Foreign Land” is a light, breezy track with melodic guitar licks and plenty of sway. It’s not quite a ballad, but it’s a dark, tender offering — like a spooky surf rock love song. Lyrically, although written by the ’69 version of Ghost, this song deals with the “future,” be it 1984 or 2024.

Read the lyrics directly below (via Genius) and listen to “The Future Is a Foreign Land” further down the page.

Ghost, “The Future Is a Foreign Land” Lyrics

Fifteen years from now
I know it feels remote
But picture it somehow
In your head

It’s 1984
And knocking on your door
Is the Brownshirt Stasi guard
Boom, you’re gone

And in the blood of the Kennedys
The good ones get shot
And in the absence of sympathy
Won’t you hear me out?

When it all burns down
When it all burns down
I will hold you close for the minute
Yeah, I’ll hold you for the minute it takes

Fifty-five years from now
I know it sounds insane
The dark fascist regime might be gone

Oh, if you by then have forgiven me
Whеn push comes to shove
We don’t havе to be enemies
Won’t you hear me out?

When it all burns down
When it all burns down
I will hold you close for the minute
For the minute

When it all burns down
And the flames devour everything that we are
I will hold you for the minute
I will hold you for the minute it takes

With these words at hand
The future is a foreign land
So let us pray for more in 2024
(2024)
We could grow old together
(2024)
We could love one another
(2024)
And then we’ll from then be peace forevermore
Peace forevermore

But if it all burns down
If it all burns down
I will hold you close for the minute
For the minute

If it all burns down
And the flames devour everything that we are
I will hold you for the minute
I will hold you for the minute it takes

Ghost, “The Future Is a Foreign Land”