# More songs that scared you as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811 "2008-04-18T00:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tabithina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/21 "2008-04-18T16:45:28Z")
Here’s another one that used to creep me out a bit when I was little, because of the singing style and the line at the end about having two heads. “My analyst told me That I was right out of my head But I said dear doctor I think that its you instead Because I have got a thing Thats unique and new To prove it Ill have The last laugh on you cause instead of one head I got two And you know two heads are better than one.” By the time I was a teenager, though, _Twisted_ by Joni Mitchell was one of my favorite songs. Still love it. 🙂 [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKIQSo7JbKQ) ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/22 "2008-04-18T19:54:21Z")
The Stones “Paint it Black” always seemed badass and spooky to me, but my older sister had one song on some album, oh, around 1974-6, that scared the bejeezus out of me every time-- it would start and I’d leap up onto the furniture and try not to touch the floor and go into a general panic: I _think_ (ran into this in adulthood and it was very reminiscent and is from the right time period) it was Phaedrus by Tangerine Dream. How my Barry Manilow-loving sister would have gotten into Tangerine Dream is beyond me, though. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/23 "2008-04-18T20:00:46Z")
“Swamp Witch” by Jim Stafford…my mom had one of his albums (may have been Greatest Hits…don’t know) and I used to like “Spiders & Snakes” so she’d play it sometimes, but when “Swamp Witch” came on I’d make her turn it off. I do not recall what my reaction to “My Girl Bill” was, though it may have had a formative impact… 😃 It should be noted that this was when I was 5 or 6 or something like that. > [@](#): > > Party of ten of the town’s best men headed for Hattie’s Shack > Said Swamp Witch magic was useful and good > And they’re gonna bring hattie back > Never found Hattie and they never found the shack > Never made the trip back in > There was a parchment note they found tacked to a stump > Said don’t come look’n again ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/24 "2008-04-18T20:01:02Z")
"Working My Way Back To You’ has always creeped me out and I don’t know why. I cannot listen to it. It has the same effect on my sister, so maybe it’s genetic. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/25 "2008-04-18T20:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] Yeah Hall & Oates Maneater freaked me out when I was a kid. Not because of the video but because of the idea of a woman that eats men. [/QUOTE] “Killing Me Softly” was the one that freaked me out when I was a kid, because of the idea that you could kill someone (softly!) by singing a song to them. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/26 "2008-04-18T21:11:11Z")
My sister was a big Kiss fan in their heyday, so I was exposed to their music as a young boy. One song that scared me was “God of Thunder”. I was also freaked out by hearing the music gradually slowing to a near complete stop at the end of “Black Diamond”. It made me think the whole space-time continuum (or my vague understanding of this concept) was coming to a halt. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/27 "2008-04-19T05:02:57Z")
When I was quite yong the song “My Grandfather’s Vlock” scared me a bit. And then there was an episode of _The Twilight Zone_ that used is as the basis of a story (at least that’s what I recall throguh the haze of years). There later as a preteen or early teen there was “Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy. Intentionally weird song that I found really creepy. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/28 "2008-04-19T05:03:36Z")
The video for _Babooshka_ by **Kate Bush** used to terrfiy me as a kid - I thought she really was turning into some wild, scary, crazy banshee. It freaked me out. Even to this day, that songs still sounds dangerous to me. And I get a strange, gleeful thrill out of watching the clip. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/29 "2008-04-19T17:09:47Z")
[DOA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKiV34O0L50&feature=related) Still quite capable of doing so. EDIT: Music is better [on this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFGNMQeoo4Q&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Coup\_Fourre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Coup\_Fourre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coup_Fourre)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/30 "2008-04-19T17:52:16Z")
_Strawberry Fields Forever_. I don’t like the creepy flute/weird sounds ending. I can’t even describe what it sounds like exactly. Just freaks me out. Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/31 "2008-04-19T18:46:45Z")
_Strawberry Fields_ has a menacing undercurrent that I’ve always really liked, and you may have picked up on that. The music video for _Wild Wild Life_ by Talking Heads freaked me out something fierce. As I remember it, it features a claymation guy rolling his tongue into a hot dog roll and eating it! I watched the video again on YouTube and couldn’t see it, though - maybe it’s on the TV monitors in the background. The big-eyed bald woman pulling her wig off may have creeped me out, too. Also: that’s probably the first place I ever saw John Goodman, and while I’ve become a pretty big Talking Heads fan, that song is no _Girlfriend is Better_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/32 "2008-04-20T04:39:08Z")
“Come Together” by the Beatles. Love it now, but as a toddler, that was too much. “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent, same reason. And I have NOT learned to love it. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/33 "2008-04-20T05:12:04Z")
“Spinning Wheel” kind of has an eerie feel to it, with the calliope and the unfamiliar start-stop-start rhythms. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/34 "2008-04-20T05:48:41Z")
Mike Oldfield’s [_Tubular Bells_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYmIKcP7Nbc), without even seeing _The Exorcist_! There was also something creepy about Edgar Winter’s [_Frankenstein_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzmPbTXaXw), that sound at ~3:15 never means anything good. CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/35 "2008-04-20T06:02:10Z")
I was also 5 when **Thriller** came out and it absolutely terrified me. I remember I was playing outside and mom was listening to the cassette, and I really, really, really had to go to the bathroom, but I was too scared to go into the house, for fear that I’d have to listen to it. **The Girl is Mine** was the song before it, so I would start to get really anxious when I heard it, but I would always stay and listen to the whole thing, even though I knew THAT SONG would be next. I didn’t know who Paul McCartney was at the time, and if I had ever listened to the Beatles, I was too young to make the connection, but I found his voice very soothing. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/36 "2008-04-21T02:05:47Z")
Pink Floyd’s **Echoes** from _Meddle_ gave me a few freaky dreams. That ghost-like screeching in the middle was weird. The first time I listened to the album all the way through was while I was in bed when I was around 8. Not good planning on my part. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/37 "2008-04-21T02:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] … I _think_ (ran into this in adulthood and it was very reminiscent and is from the right time period) it was Phaedrus by Tangerine Dream. How my Barry Manilow-loving sister would have gotten into Tangerine Dream is beyond me, though. [/QUOTE] Just an alternate theory, could the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra duet Some Velvet Morning, with its constant discussion of “Phaedra”, have been the song? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/38 "2008-04-21T08:24:37Z")
_Sparky’s Magic Piano._ Creepy, creepy, creepy. That _voice!_ ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/39 "2008-04-21T11:38:04Z")
When I was about 10 or so, there was a rap song about Freddy Krueger that scared the hell out of me. I wouldn’t watch the movies, but I heard the song by accident, and up until that point I’d had no idea Freddy attacked people in their sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811/40 "2008-04-21T12:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] _Sparky’s Magic Piano._ Creepy, creepy, creepy. That _voice!_ [/QUOTE] Good god I wish you hadn’t reminded me of that horror. Thinking about it, it was probably just some bloke speaking through a harmonica…maybe that explains my fear of pre-electric Dylan… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-scared-you-as-a-kid/445811.md?page=3)