Top Ten HalloWeen SongsHere's a list of the best HalloWeen oldies ever. It's subjective, of course, but it covers the early days of rock and roll (and some other genres of music) in search of what We consider the Weirdest and creepiest HalloWeen hits. Songs about spooky subjects but which don't sound all that creepy (i.e., Sheb Wooley's "Purple People Eater") are not included. Those who do not agree are invited to soap my windows. Happy HalloWeen! 1) "Monster Mash," Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
THE HalloWeen song of all time, returning to the Top 100
twice years after its release and still in wide airplay
every October. Although the track's hilarious (Bobby's Boris
Karloff impersonation is picture-perfect), and it has
ambience to spare, it remains popular mainly because it's a
great little dance tune, an exquisite re-creation of the
Mashed Potato craze that was then sWeeping the nation
(featuring Leon Russell on piano). This song has outlasted
the hits it parodied. Now that's spooky.
2) "I Put A Spell On You," Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Probably the best actual song here, Hawkins' classic
RandB hit is ostensibly about a woman who won't give him the
time of day. This record is less notable for what it says,
hoWever, than how it says it: Hawkins' frightening yowls and
gibbers really sound like some ancient ritual, and led to a
long career of him scaring the crap out of everyone with his
amazing voice. Rumor has it that this original record only
came out the way it did because Jay was, Well, not as sober
as he should have been.
3) "Haunted House," Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Not the KISS leader, of course, but an excellent rockabilly,
RandB and soul artist who is, sadly, best remembered for this
little novelty. It's a great novelty, though, with Simmons
determined to stick it out in his new house, despite all the
paranormal things that keep happening to him. An extremely
strange little record, which is what lands it on this list.
(Simmons re-recorded this ditty in the Seventies, a version
which brings out the song's swamp-pop roots.)
4) "Witch Queen Of New Orleans," Redbone
The Native American group that gave us early-'70s pop gems
like "Come And Get Your Love" tries its hand at telling the
story of legendary New Orleans voudoun priestess
Marie Laveau. It gets all the facts wrong, horribly wrong (Laveau
did not live in a swamp, for one thing), but it's suffused
with an atmosphere of dread that can't be matched among
major oldies Top 40 hits. And there's also one wicked
groove. Literally.
5) "Out Of Limits," The Marketts
The creepiest, and therefore the best, of the HalloWeen
oldies instrumentals, this is an excellent surf-rock take on
the old "Outer Limits" TV show theme. For some reason,
"Twilight Zone" covers never seem to catch fire, so this
gets the nod instead. Of course, "Pulp Fiction" may color
the experience for some of you. (Zed's dead, baby.)
6) "HalloWeen Spooks," Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross
Jazz's greatest vocal trio created a fine novelty record
here - it starts off with a few perfunctory words about the
spooks of the title, and then spends the rest of the cut
doing nothing but making really creepy sounds like spirits
from beyond the grave. Excellent atmosphere. Fun for kids,
too!
7) "Little Red Riding Hood," Sam "The Sham" and the Pharoahs
The other big hit by the beturbaned men who gave us the
legendary "Wooly Bully" is more of a lecherous fairy tale
than a spookfest, but it's a dark, menacing fairy tale, and
one of the finest garage rock songs on record. Extra points
for the cute joke at the end, where Sam momentarily forgets
he's supposed to be a sheep. (Okay, it's not the most
authentic version of the story.)
8) "Morgus The Magnificent," Morgus and The Ghouls
The other great TV horror host novelty record isn't
very scary, but then, it has a fantastic rock and roll
pedigree to make up for it, boasting members of Huey "Piano"
Smith's Clowns ("Don't You Just Know It"), Frankie "Sea
Cruise" Ford on lead vocals, and Dr. John on piano. New
Orleans legendary TV personality Morgus is nowhere to be
found, despite the credits. But this is his song, anyway.
9) "Dinner With Drac," Zacherley
The king of Fifties horror movie hosts (operating out of New
York City) tells us all about his ill-fated dinner with the
Count, delivering the story in his usual demented spoken
narrative. As with the show, the best thing about the song
is John Zacherley's truly infectious maniacal laugh. Nice
sax work, though.
10) "Bo Meets The Monster," Bo Diddley
There Were a number of great RandB and blues songs about
aliens and black magic in the '50s - it's practically a
subgenre in itself - but the award for best blues-influenced
monster song has to go to Bo, who knew a trend when he saw
one and who jumped in and made it his. Like any other Bo
Diddley song, in other words, except there's a rather vague
monster after him this time. Bonus points to Bo for also
providing the creature's oogie-
boogie voice.
Northern California Replay Records |
