Hello, partygoers!
Welcome to Part 1 of the Listening Party’s Halloween Spooooooktacular!!!! Full of bone-chilling Halloween songs!!! And face-meltingly terrifying listener’s letters!!! Scary!!!!
To counter Sneaky Dragon co-host Ian Boothby’s claim that there is only one Halloween song and that song is Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” we decided to put together a selection of Halloween-themed or Halloween-adjacent tunes for your next Halloween party or demonic possession! (Fun!) Also, listener’s comments. (Also fun, but less scary.)
This episode we are spinning:
- Wade Denning and Kay Lande – “Halloween” – Golden Records Halloween: Games, Songs and Stories, 1969 – 4:58
- Ralph Nielsen and the Chancellors – “Scream” – Surf Records 45 b/w “Little Demon”, 1962 – 13:38
- The Swingin’ Phillies – “Frankenstein’s Party” – Deluxe Records 45 b/w “L-O-V-E”, 1957 – 20:24
- Boots Walker – “They’re Here” – Rust Records 45 b/w “A Bum Can’t Cry”, 1967 – 30:00
- Rasputina – “Gingerbread Coffin” – Cabin Fever, 2002 – 1:30:36
- Vampire State Building – “Barnabas” – Roulette Records 45” b/w “I’m Bats About You”, 1969 – 1:39:47
- Jack Kittel – “Psycho” – Psycho, 1974 – 1:51:21
- The Kinks – “Wicked Annabella” – The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, 1968 – 1:59:55
- Ronnie Cook and the Gaylads – “Goo Goo Muck” – Audan Records 45” b/w “The Scotch”, 1962 – 2:11:00
- The Buoys – “Timothy” – Scepter Records 45” b/w “It Feels Good” , 1970 – 2:29:50
Also playing on the old Victrola:
- The Rolling Stones – “Shattered” – Some Girls, 1978 – 37:12
- Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing” – Brothers In Arms, 1985 – 41:06
- George Harrison – “Dream Away” – Gone Troppo, 1982 – 49:52
- Aimee Mann – “Momentum” – Magnolia, 1999 – 56:40
- Pink Floyd – “Learning to Fly” – A Momentary Lapse of Reason, 1987 – 1:00:23
- Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street” – City to City, 1978 – 1:05:36
- Smash Mouth – “All Star”– Astro Lounge, 2001 – 1:12:37
Thanks for listening.
We’re not sure if it’s a coincidence or some sort of meddling deviltry, but The Buoys’ “Timothy” was discussed on the latest episode of One Hit Wonderland:
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Dave and Mary, I jumped in terror when I heard that record scratch! When I recovered, I was excited to hear there’ll be a Part Two of this week’s Halloween Listening Party. I’ve been digging all the cuts especially the creepiness of “Gingerbread Coffin” and the disturbing country gothic tones of “Psycho.”
I’ve got a recommendation for you for a post-Halloween song – “When I Go Away” by Levon Helm (of The Band fame.) I sang it with a soul choir and found its melody a little spooky and its lyrics a little macabre with the references to church bells tolling, hearses rolling and being laid in the cold ground in the graveyard. But with its ultimately celebratory message, it’s more an All Hallows’ Day song. The backup vocals in the breakdown are very cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60EscyPGvz4
Speaking of macabre, I first heard about “Danse Macabre” in a Robertson Davies novel where the music student heroine betrays her lack of sophistication when she pronounces it something like “Dance MACK-aw-ber.” As someone who hates being caught in a mispronunciation, that always stuck with me. For the record, the Hitchcock theme song is “Funeral March of a Marionette,” another ominous dance of death.
Hamilton (on Disney+) was fine but it wasn’t my cup of tea thrown into Boston Harbor. Of course, you don’t get the full impact of a live performance when you’re watching it at home on your TV rather than in “The Room Where It Happens.” (See what I did there?) I did like the rhyming, staging and non-traditional casting but I felt like I was watching a really good history pageant or a quirky fringe festival show. I can see how it would appeal to Americans who had to learn that stuff out of some dry textbook. Imagine how much more fun it would be to learn about Canadian confederation in a hip hop musical called “Charlottetown” featuring Drake as John A. Macdonald and The Weeknd as George-Etienne Cartier.
Wooeee, that was a lot of fun, folks! Congratulations on another fine show, and on achieving your second birthday!
I’m a big fan of Danny Elfman’s songs for The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a few of the tracks on this list would have been right at home on that soundtrack, especially Halloween and Gingerbread Coffin. Your story about Timothy got me wondering which other songs might actually have been about a mule and not a person. Let’s just say I may never hear Michelle, Gaye, Ruby Tuesday of Jennifer Eccles in quite the same way again.
Roll on, part two!