Rob Zombie also put out a halloween comp called
“Halloween Hootenany” with a bunch of punk/surf/garage bands. He even sings with one of the bands. I’m not a RZ fan, but he sounds way cool singing the punk rock.
The Fuzztones also have an album of halloween Songs called “Monster A Go Go” that’s essential for any halloween party.
Just about any song by Danzig’s old band Samhain will put you in that halloween mood.
Thriller by Michael Jackson
**God of Thunder **by Kiss
Witchy Woman by the Eagles
I Put a Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
That British song about a guy who picks up a hitchhiker who leaves a sweater in his car and turns out to be a ghost
No specific Hallowe’en ideas, but I always think these songs sound pretty spooky:
The Smashing Pumpkins: Pug
Nick Cave: The Mercy Seat; or Red Right Hand (or so many others)
Public Image Ltd: Order of Death
Aphex Twin: Come To Daddy
And especially, anything from the new Liars’ album. It’s all about witches!
Our six-year-old, MilliCal, cracked me up last Halloween with her song Rudy, the Red-Nosed Fruit Bat, a direct parody of (of course) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Most of it was uninspired substitution, but then she got to the line:
…Then one foggy Halloween
Dracula came to say
“Rudy with your Nose so Bright…”
…and I lost it.
i’m pretty sure there was a similar thread around Halloween last year, looking for musical recommendations. to repeat some previous entries (both my own and perhaps others’):
Night on Bald Mountain
Danse Macabre
March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique (i think)
Zombie Jamboree and With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm by The Kingston Trio
Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist) by Michael Oldsfeld (?) (LP version preferably, if you can find it)
I Hold Your Hand in Mine and Irish Ballad by Tom Lehrer
Marie Laveau by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
and… (don’t hit me)
Wildfire (forgot who did that one, but if you want onset-of-winter-y…)
ahem.
anyway… yes, Halloween rocks. you might also look for a CD called New Wave Halloween. nothing but themed songs on it (and nearly half of them are titled (surprise!) “Halloween”.)
i was just working on my inventory of Halloween CDs (more slanted towards sound effects for hauntings than actual music). if you still have any interest, i can grab additional titles from the “background music” CD i burned last year (stuff to play for customers waiting in line). it veered back and forth between classical, comedy and horror movie themes.
speaking of which, don’t forget things like the themes from Psycho, Halloween, Jaws, X-Files and those of like genre.
It’s such a good song, but it really needs more cowbell.
Oculus Infernum by Van Helsing’s Curse. This is Dee Snider’s attempt to make a soundtrack for Halloween.
The Puppet Master by King Diamond. One of the few story albums where you can figure out the story just by listening.
Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls by the Murderdolls. There’s some great B-movie type humor on here (“She Was a Teenage Zombie” is a fantastic song).
"Are You Happy Now?" - Richard Shindell
“When Fall Comes To New England” - Cheryl Wheeler
“I Want Candy” - Bow Wow Wow
I love the feeling of autumn and halloween, too! It’s the best time of year.
Here’s some songs not about halloween, but capture the feeling for me:
Kiko and the Lavender Moon, Los Lobos
Night Parade, Robbie Robertson (& pretty much most of his self-titled album which captures the end of Summer and start of Fall with Somewhere Down The Crazy River, Hells Half Acre and Sonny Got Caught in the Moonlight, and, well, all of his Storyville album actually…ok, and his Contact From The Underground Of Redboy album as well.)
Goblin Girl, Frank Zappa
And I loved the accordian music from the movie Milagro Beanfield War, but I don’t know who it’s by.
“Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo
“Funeral for a Friend” by Elton John
“Strange Brew” by Cream
When I saw that, my first thought was “how is that halloween-y?”
Duh. Sometimes I think I’m not all that bright
I’m A Vampire - Future Bible Heroes
Grimly Fiendish - The Damned
Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega
Poor Skeleton Steps Out - XTC
Haunted - The Pogues
Just not Ghostbusters.
IIRC, that was James Michael Montgomery.
Now nothing says “November” to me like “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Actually, it was Michael Martin Murphey. Until today, I never realized that these two guys were not the same person.
Mannheim Steamroller’s Halloween
DISC 1: MUSIC DISC:
DISC 2: EFX DISC:
Bah, I can’t believe no one else has mentioned Bauhaus. They’re the classic goth band.
Anyway, Vamypre Erotica by Inkubus Sukkubus is also quite a good halloween song.
Someone mentioned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but I don’t believe their link included the lyrics to the little diddy/poem:
My dad loved to scare the holy hell out of kids around Halloween. I still get goosebumps as I recall the way he used to launch into his spoken-word performance of this poem, from memory. He passed away in the summer of 2002.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by The Alan Parsons Project
Particularly the instrumental “Fall of the House of Usher.”
I’m Looking Through You - not the Beatles version, but the Muppet Show version, sung by a bunch of ghosts.
Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite always get me feeling Halloweeny.