# Is the Monster Mash song the Monster Mash song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629 "2017-10-23T14:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/41 "2017-10-24T19:07:43Z")
So we just have to find the lyrics to “Transylvania Twist?” Or does this mean that the Transylvania Twist was about the Monster Mash? At which point things are getting recursive… ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/42 "2017-10-24T19:22:02Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I guess Manilow’s ‘I Write the Songs’ is only about the songs he writes… Although Barry Manilow wrote many of his own hits songs (and a fuckton of commercial jingles that were probably stuck in your head for forever), he did not write I Write the Songs. I will now go off to make Monster Mashed Potatoes which involves cutting the tips off of baked potatoes, scooping out the insides and mashing them with butter and milk and salt and pepper and maybe garlic or cheese, putting the potato back into the skins and attaching olive eyes with toothpicks. Maybe some green pepper fangs or chive hair. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/43 "2017-10-24T19:53:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > So we just have to find the lyrics to “Transylvania Twist?” Or does this mean that the Transylvania Twist was about the Monster Mash? At which point things are getting recursive… Your wish is my command. By Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers: Note the minimalist lyrics. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/44 "2017-10-24T21:04:33Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What I really want to know is: whatever happened to the Transylvania Twist? > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I believe the lyrics answer that one: “It’s now the Mash! (It’s now the Monster Mash!”) Wait, are they saying that they’re dancing to the same song, or that the Mash is the new thing and has replaced the Twist. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/45 "2017-10-24T21:20:04Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > **Voyager** : You would have been a big hit doing the monster mash with 2 left feet. Finally I made a reference people didn’t get? [Enjoy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQzVhBVQ7Z8) I’ve heard Richard Thompson play that song acoustic and electric, and it is always great. But you’re right - it is hard to dance the Monster Mash with two left feet. “Fats Waller says your feets too big. I say your feets too left” - RT in Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/46 "2017-10-24T21:55:34Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Wait, are they saying that they’re dancing to the same song, or that the Mash is the new thing and has replaced the Twist. I think it’s clear from the song that the Monster Mash copied the Transylvanian Twist. Dracula threatened to sue and they gave him a share of the royalties as a settlement. To cover up the embarrassment, the official story was that he had joined the band. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/47 "2017-10-29T06:52:58Z")
Thought I’d bump the thread, because Youtube tonight popped up a video of Bobby “Boris” Pickett performing the song on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. He’s quite a ham, that boy is. Does a good job of lip synching too. Those who are too young or experienced enough to know of Boris Karloff probably won’t understand the facial expressions, but Pickett does put on quite a show. And he didn’t look anything like I pictured him all these years. Anyway, here 'tis: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vNuVifA7DSU/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGcgZyhnMA8=&rs=AOn4CLC4Z8Wzg-6azFEs372mxEmUma_qfA "Bobby Pickett "Monster Mash"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNuVifA7DSU) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629/48 "2017-10-29T12:05:12Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Monster Mash came on the radio the other day (it’s that time!) and it dawned on me that we are hearing a description of someone witnessing monsters and ghouls performing the Monster Mash (the song and dance, presumably) but we as listeners to his tale never get to hear the actual Monster Mash. > [@sciurophobic](#): > > After this can we discuss how the song _The Tennessee Waltz_ is about a song called _The Tennessee Waltz_? Only if we include _Bonaparte’s Retreat_ and _The San Antonio Stroll_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-monster-mash-song-the-monster-mash-song/799629.md?page=2)