Ghostbusters – Ray Parker, Jr. | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#1 for 3 weeks), R&B (#1 for 2 weeks); 1984
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
“Who you gonna call!?” In 1984 that shouted question and its answering chant, “Ghostbusters,” entered into popular culture as the catchphrase for a generation of music lovers and movie goers.
If Ghostbusters sounds like an everyday television commercial, credit writer Ray Parker Jr. who used the scene featuring the four ghostbusters and the telephone number as a creative jumping off point for the lyrics.
Not only was “ghostbusters” not your standard moonspoon-June rhyming word, Parker – a bona fide R&B/Pop vocalist – hated the prospect of singing it. Since he also called the shots as the record’s producer, Ray used a vocal chorus for that phrase.
Apart from the infectious call-and-response hook, the other piece of musical ear candy was the get-in-your-brain instrumental line, the result of combining a saxophone with a guitar and synthesizer. The song with a title that Ray refused to sing became his biggest hit and garnered him an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Ray Parker Jr.
Lyrics Written by:
- Ray Parker Jr.
Awards:
- Grammy Awards Winner of Best Pop Instrumental Performance (1984)
- Academy Awards Nominee for Best Original Song (1985)
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).