Ghost Rider

Rev and Vega wrote it and it opens side one of the 1977 album at 2:34, recorded at Ultima Sound with Craig Leon and Marty Thau producing and Larry Alexander engineering; Thau remixed it for release. Vega took the title from the Marvel Comics character, which he called his favorite comic "because it had all these religious, metaphysical things going on in it." He recorded it again in 1981 for his solo album Collision Drive and said he wished the original had been used in the 2007 Ghost Rider film, which it was not.

R.E.M. covered it in 1989 as the B-side of "Orange Crush", later collected on The Automatic Box, and the Henry Rollins Band played it in 1982. M.I.A. sampled it on "Born Free", and it is heard in the 2024 film The Apprentice. NME placed it 71st among the 100 best songs of the 1970s in 2012 and Pitchfork 92nd among the 200 best of the decade in 2016; it is also in 1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. Our upload is the official audio from the band's channel.