# Songs that scared you when you were young **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823 "2001-08-24T01:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/61 "2001-08-27T03:47:04Z")
For me, it was the theme song of the old Lloyd Bridges series “Sea Hunt” (I was about 3-4 years old at the time). Every time the show started, I’d run screaming from the room because I thought some weird ocean creature would come out of the TV set and grab me! The other piece which scared me to tears was “Swan Lake”, which was occasionally played on “Captain Kangaroo”. It was so beautiful and so sad-sounding that I’d sit there practically inconsolable… ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/62 "2001-08-27T04:42:55Z")
Odd…I’ve never been scared by songs…pop or rock songs anyway. Though the right instrumental music can send me shivering. The Twilight Zone theme used to get to me as a kid, come to think of it. And the Alfred Hitchcock theme, too, especially after I learned it was called “Funeral March of the Marionettes.” _shiver_ Puppets are creepy. I did want to add that the creature okielady refered to in the OP is a satyr, or, as a friend and I called it in song: Pan, Pan, the Greek god Pan, One half goat and the other half man. If satyrs creep you out, think of fauns instead. Look the same, but less lecherous. Think Mr. Tumnus from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He was a nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mann\_Slaughter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/63 "2001-08-27T08:15:05Z")
It’s a song by **“Kraftwerk”** , but I’m unsure whether it was “Computer World” or “Numbers” since they both wound down to the same beat. What I remembered was that at the very end of the song, for about 2 minutes, you got what sounded like a group of people whispering, but with their voices being run backward. I’m sure some people are asking: “What’s so scary about that?” Well, for years before and after that song came out, I was having a recurring nightmare which consisted of a disembodied group of voices… **whispering, with their voices being run backward!!** :eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Spooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Spooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spooky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/64 "2001-08-27T08:28:10Z")
Oh, my God, you people are so funny! Almost every one of the songs you have all mentioned have either creeped me out or stayed with me through all these years in a WEIRD WAY. My first thought was “Iron Man”. God, I love Sabbath, but that voice freaks me out! Isn’t music wonderful? Love, Spooky ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/65 "2001-08-27T08:47:10Z")
The Dr. Who theme music and Ghost Riders in the Sky. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/66 "2001-08-27T17:23:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jet Jaguar \* > \*\*Not the entire song, but that psychedelic bit in the middle of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” terrified me. B] Oooh! Oooh! Me too! And the part where Robert Plant sounds like he’s in a hole - you just KNOW the monsters are going to get him! Had to hear this umpteen times as a child - often late at night in the back seat of the car, 8 track player fading out & back in dramatically… Of course the second hand pot smoke may have had something to do with my paranoid take on the song… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/67 "2001-08-27T17:34:20Z")
Was it Janice Ian that did that song “At Seventeen”? Being a socially active guy in junior high at the time, I was fearful that someday I’d become either jaded or unsymphatetic to the fact that there were others out there not as fortunate or happy-go-lucky as I. I still think it’s a good thing to be mindful of and hope I’ve always met the challenge. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/68 "2001-08-27T18:01:56Z")
For reasons I cannot fathom, Elvis’ pseudo-operatic “Its Now or Never” creeped me out to the point of tears back in the day…on country radio, no less. ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/69 "2001-08-29T17:11:45Z")
Any organ music, especially the Phantom of the Opera bit, did and still freaks me out. I dont understand why churches have organs. This is the End by the Doors. Riders on the Storm, too, “there’s a killer on the road, his brain is squirmy like a toad…” Also-The Pina Colada song. I SWEAR some DJ said it was about people who got stuck in a cave and had to eventually eat human flesh to survive. Dont know WHERE I got this idea. Now, of course, I still find the song scary. For an entirely different reason. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/70 "2001-08-29T17:27:11Z")
Fortunately I was at least in jr. high when I first heard Inna Godda da Veeda (sp?) or it would have wacked me, especially in the middle during that brief screetching part. There was a movie that predated Silence of the Lambs but also had a creepy guy that ate people… (ah - Manhunter?) and during the creshendoed finale this was being blasted so nobody could hear the victim’s screams. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/71 "2001-08-29T18:36:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > **_The Sycopated Clock_.** Oi, **Biggirl** , have I got an [album](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000023AV/qid=999110017/sr=1-1/ref=sc_m_1/103-0176978-4515836) for YOU! 😃 I can’t think of anything original to add, but I will second the theme from _Doctor Who_, especially from the Tom Baker years. Creeped me out something awful. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/72 "2001-08-29T19:02:37Z")
Deng a deng, a deng a deng, adeng a deng, a dengeda dengeda, deng a deng, ooo eee ooo… People who’ve watched it will know what I’m drivelling about. It had a total synthesied score. Both the title music and incidental music added so much to the prog that even without an appearance from the Daleks or Cybermen it still had me racing for behind the sofa. Really. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/73 "2001-08-29T19:31:48Z")
I’m gonne give a big “ditto” on a bunch of these, especially instrumental ones. The theme to Alfred Hitchcock Presents was definitely scary…the song sounds like evil laughter, plus you’ve got Hitchcock out there being his solemn, yet darkly-humored self to add to it all. House of the Rising Sun is pretty eerie. It’s now one of my favorite songs. Theme songs from “Sightings” and “Unsolved Mysteries”. I bet the X-Files theme does the same thing to kids today, since its in the same vein. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/74 "2001-08-29T20:35:35Z")
The beginning of “Lunatic Fringe” I actually caught it not that long ago on the radio and I was driving, alone, at night on a highway. I am such a wimp, I give _myself_ the heebie-jeebies at the drop of a hat. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/75 "2001-08-29T20:35:52Z")
The whole “Paul is Dead” thing happened when I was 8 years old. AND I had a sister in college in Michigan, where the whole rumor supposedly started. So the whole creepy thing was really pushed down my throat. I was completely unable to listen to any post-RUBBER SOUL Beatles music until I was about 13. “Ode to Billie Joe” was pretty bad, too…was that a BABY they were throwing off the bridge? ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/76 "2001-08-30T06:30:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\* > “Mother” by the Police. > \*\* I was waiting to see if someone posted that. A little off-topic, but I remember being really freaked out by the album cover to Ian Hunter’s _You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic_. I don’t remember exactly why – does anyone recall the cover? ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/77 "2001-08-30T08:06:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by curwin \* > > \*\*A little off-topic, but I remember being really freaked out by the album cover to Ian Hunter’s _You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic_. I don’t remember exactly why – does anyone recall the cover? \*\* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002Z7K/qid=999158626/sr=2-3/002-7851259-7772035](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002Z7K/qid=999158626/sr=2-3/002-7851259-7772035) ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/78 "2016-08-06T01:22:32Z")
> [@DeskMonkey](#): > > That “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin” song by Steve Miller used to scare the bejeezus out of me. “Fly Like an Eagle”. I hate that song too, but for a different reason - my older brother keeps playing that song. I’M SICK OF IT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/79 "2016-08-06T19:24:32Z")
Not a recorded song, but what terrified me most was the bigger kids singing “there was an old lady all skin and bones, whooooo-ooo-ooo ooh-ooh ooh-ooh” ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/80 "2016-08-06T20:13:06Z")
That one song by the Zombies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823.md?page=5)