Songfacts®:

• The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger is Sean Lennon and his girlfriend, the fashion model Charlotte Kemp Muhl. This song is an ode to the grandson of oil tycoon Paul Getty, who in 1973 was abducted for ransom by Italian kidnappers and had his ear cut off before his grandfather finally agreed to their demands. Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict and later suffered a stroke, which rendered him speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.
  
  "I related to the idea of having a famous last name that attracts attention from creepy people," Lennon told Rolling Stone. "His story always gave me chills."