Not looking for scary songs, but more like songs that have a spooky moment or eerie part of the song.
First example I can think of is in Silent Lucidity by Queensryche. During the electric guitar solo towards the end of it when the distorted voice is talking about “dream control,” at the end of the solo is a creepy voice that says “Help me” and then the songs kicks back in.
From what I’ve read that whole part is a lot of reference to Hellraiser. Interesting and still creepy.
Timothy by the Buoys. Fire by Arthur Brown. And I’ve found Riders on the Storm by the Doors a bit spooky.
Ditto on Riders on the Storm. Used to creep me right the fuck out.
I forgot. The beginning of Fire On High by ELO. Backward talking at its best.
I still have a hard time listening to the organ intro to Elton John’s Funeral for a Friend.. Well, I guess the organ part *is *FfaF and the song itself is Love Lies Bleeding.. Anyway, luckily it wasn’t apt to pop up on the radio often but when my brother would play it, knowing full well it freaked me out, just . . .no.
I know someone else will bring up Eleanor Rigby and her damned face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Damn that song is depressing.
Maybe kind of lame and cliche now, but when I was a young teen, these lyrics seemed creepy:
*They never found Hattie, an they never found her shack
an they never made a trip back in
'cause a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
said “Don’t come looking again”
*
The whole song “Sheep” by Pink Floyd is creepy, but the creepiest part is the recitation of a perverted version of the Lord’s Prayer by an electronic voice.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives he releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
The discordant piano ending of Bowie’s Aladdin Sane used to creep me out, especially the “David Live” version.
“A Child Is Coming” from Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner (RIP) and the original Jefferson Starship.
The first half of the song is a bright, upbeat, guitar-strumming ode to fornication and makin’ babies.
The second half of the song becomes inexplicably ominous as it details something “growing in the dark”. I have always assumed it was influenced by the famous Life magazine photos of a fetus developing (from 1970, same year as the “Blows” album.) But the effect is somewhat…disquieting. Apparently, in the 1980s, some evangelical group accused the band of satanism and said this song was ‘celebrating the birth of the anti-christ’ or some such nonsense. (But in a way, I could see their point. Lol.)
I agree. But here’s the antidote.
“She was screaming as she fell. But I never heard her hit.”
I think the “Piltdown Man” section of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells fits the bill. That kind of freaked me out the first time I heard it. (I gather most people have the same reaction.)
“Grandma got run over by a reindeer.” I mean, think about it.
Laurie ( strange things happen) by Dickey Lee
Space Oddity.
The little whisper at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever” that’s either “Cranberry Sauce” or “I Buried Paul” depending on whether you think Lizard people run the world creeped me out as a kid. The whole song really but that in particular.
The Doors:
“Oh show me…the way…to the next LITTLE GIRL…oh, don’t ask why…”
The holiday song “Baby It’s cold outside” has a line which may imply slipping her a micky/roofie.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/baby-its-cold-outside-lyrics-dean-martin.html
A lotta Beatles songs freaked me out as a kid, probably because of the “Paul is Dead” thing, which happened when I was eight – “Strawberry Fields,” “I Am the Walrus,” “Come Together.” I grew out of it, though.
But I still hate “Come Together,” and am surprised when it turns up on peoples’ “Fave Beatles Songs” lists.
I still find that song (Swamp Witch) a bit creepy.
The song “Werewolf” by the Five Man Electrical Band is mostly silly, but I find it a bit creepy how casually the father talks about how he has to kill his son with a single shot.
The album Murder Ballardsby Nick Cave.
Nuff said.