31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 31: Grim, Grinning Ghosts

      Well, here we are. It is Halloween and we are at the end of my 31 spooky songs that you should have on your Halloween playlist. While I have said earlier in this series that this is not a ranked list, today is the exception being easily my number one song (I have at least 10 versions of this song on my playlist). It is the only theme park ride song that I know by heart, it is the one, the only Disney's The Haunted Mansion's "Grim, Grinning Ghosts".

     With music and lyrics by Disney legends Buddy Baker and Xavier "X" Atencio, "Grim, Grinning Ghosts" is just a fantastic and versatile piece of music. Heard in one form or another in every part of the mansion (well, almost all. There is not music in the Stretching Room) from the slow, somber tones you hear when first entering the foyer and hearing the Ghost Host welcome you foolish mortals into The Haunted Mansion to morose chiming bells in the hallway leading to where you board your Doom Buggy. From the festively creepy, slightly off-key waltz in the ballroom to the fully voiced, ghoulishly joyous party version of it playing as you make your way through the graveyard after falling/jumping/being thrown out of the attic window. I love every version of it, and every image of the ride that just hearing it brings to mind.

       This song is actually the only thing I didn't like about "Muppets Haunted Mansion", and it's not that they did a bad version of it, or that it did not make an appearance in the special, but that they did not do a full Muppets cover of it, instead opting to cover "Dancing in the Moonlight" for some reason at the end instead. I mean: what the Hell, Disney?

     I think for most people, the song brings to mind the graveyard's Singing Busts when they think of the song, and that may be partly because they sing it in the clearest, least accented (to a Californian anway) version, and also because Disney has used this version on official soundtrack releases before:

     You know, the thing is not just the vocals in that particular version of the song, and this is meant to be a list about the music more than the visuals, but just look at how much life the performers gave object that have no actual movement to them. Really stop and appreciate the facial acting going on here; the exaggerated expressions that really make them so memorable.

     Of course there is no better way to really appreciate the various versions of the song in the ride than to listen to all of them. We may not be able to go on the ride, but there is this fantastic soundtrack to the whole ride from the foyer to the exit crypt:

     We have this silly version from an old Disney Sing-A-Long VHS. I will be honest: this is not one of my favourites, but it is still worth watching once.

     Then we have cover versions of the song. I have stated earlier in this list that the soundtrack is the only real redeeming feature of the 2003 "The Haunted Mansion" film, and one of the highlights of this is this Barenaked Ladies cover of the song:

     There are of course other covers as well, like this one from The Friendly Indians.

     Possibly interesting facts: this is the same group that performed the theme song for the USA series "Psych", and the lead singer, Steve Franks, is the creator of that show (I wonder how they got to do the theme....).

     Another call back to earlier in this list is an appearance here by The Pyronauts with their cover called "The Ghastly Stomp". It was hearing them play this song that made me originally buy a couple of their CDs.

Which I realize may itself just be a cover of the same song by a group called The Ghastly Ones, but I still like it:

       Naturally any song so iconic is going to have some pretty interesting remixes as well if you want versions you can really dance to:

     This one is a recent discovery for me, but I really like this one, and appreciate the amount of work that went into making it:

     And that's gonna wrap this series up. Those were 31 pieces of music that I think at least deserve a shot at being on your Halloween playlist.

     I hope you found this series interesting or entertaining, and I wish you a Happy Halloween!

     

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 30: The Living Dead

      Okay, so maybe, just maybe, I did not think this series of blog posts out fully before I started writing it, and maybe I did not do something smart like write out the thirty-one pieces of music I wanted to have on this list before I started writing it. Maybe that is part of why this is not a ranked list, and seems kind of random, and maybe that's why today's piece is the third appearance by No More Kings on this list, which is not to say that all three of these songs do not belong on this list.

     The issue is certainly not that I do not have more than 31 tracks on my Halloween playlist, there is more music on there now than can actually be played in a single Halloween night, but some of them are different versions of the same song (at least 3 versions of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", 3 of "The Phantom of the Opera", 2 "Gravity Falls", etc), and it grows each year ("Wellington Paranormal" is a new addition this year, as I was unaware of the show's existence prior).

     Still, there are more than 31 different pieces, even discounting remixes and covers, but while some songs may be good enough to actually play on the list, are they good enough to make it into a list of 31, or do they fall into the "Rock Lobster" category? 

     "Rock Lobster" category? 

     Yes, "Rock Lobster" Category.

     That term refers to the song by the B-52's that I have seen show up on countless Halloween compilation CDs despite if being about the beach and sea life and not at all anything even remotely to do with Halloween, or ghosts, or monsters, or death, or anything even remotely creepy! Why does it make it onto Halloween discs? I assume it is because the vocals and synthesizer in it do sounds like they belong in a spooky song. I expect that if I originally heard this song in a foreign language, I would think it was something creepy, and so I put songs in the "Rock Lobster" category if they either have what sounds like a Halloween-adjacent title or have a spooky sound despite the lyrics not being spooky.

     So do I put "Rock Lobster" songs on this list? Does Weezer's "Haunt You Every Day" really count as "Spooky"? What about Shiny Toy Guns' "Ghost Town"? 

     What about other novelty songs that haven't made it so far? "Purple People Eater?" "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"? "Li'l Red Riding Hood"?

     Then there are all the other theme songs that are on my list, but do they belong on this one? The themes to "Blade Runner", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Army or Darkness", "Halloween", "Friday the 13th", and "Harry Potter" are all on my actual playlist, but if I had to cut it down to 31, would any of them make it?

     Anyway, yeah, it's hard to narrow it down to just the 31 I want to share with you, so I figured why not go with something you may not have heard before, and that is why our penultimate song on this list is another No More King's song.

     According to Wikipedia, "The Living Dead" is from their album "III", which I find weird because I have it off of a disc called "1973 "Linton Edition"", which seems to have the exact same track list as "III", and I actually cannot seem to find any reference to the CD I have, which was purchased through the official No More Kings site, online at all. Which is weird.

     Anyway, "The Living Dead" is sung from the point of view of a zombie apocalypse survivor who has reached a point in his post apocalyptic existence where the shambling corpses of former humanity just annoys him due to how much noise they make.

     This song gives me some real Billy Joel circa "My Life" vibes, but I don't know if that is intentional or not; it very easily could be.

     I promise that this is the last zombie themed song on this list... being that the next part is the last one, that should be an easy promise to keep.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 29: The Cockroach That Ate Cincinatti

      Today's choice is a silly love letter to horror movies that blends a lot of the stereotypical sounds from old horror and science fiction film soundtracks with lyrics paying homage to those very films. 

     The song itself is not actually about a giant cockroach eating a city, but about the singer watching a film about said creature, and their general love of those films, "If the subject is horror, I've got to see more or I won't be contented all night". As someone who used to really love horror films (I am not as into horror as I once was, perhaps a side effect of the inevitability of death coming ever nearer, or maybe just a reaction to all the real horrors in the world), I can completely relate to the singer's sentiments.

     I grew up watching some of the films that likely inspired this song, like "The Fly", "The Food of the Gods", "The War of the Worlds", "Ben" (actually specifically mentioned in the song), "King Kong", Godzilla", and so on. 

     Now the song is from 1973, and there are a couple... shall we say culturally inappropriate references in it that have not aged well over the last half a century, and those may be hard turn-offs for some people, but, and this may just be my privilege showing, I accept those as part of what you are going to run into whenever you are exposing yourself to creations from the past.

     You know what I just found out while writing this? There was a film released in 1996 called "The Cockroach That Ate Cincinatti". Sadly, it does not appear to be about a city-devouring insect, but I thought that it was an interesting discovery. 

     Also interesting (to me anyway) is that the song's performers seem to have released it under two different names. I  have it as being by "Rose & The Arrangement", but it seems the same recording is also released as being performed by "Possum".

There does not seem to be an official video (and given the age, I would not expect there to be), but this one has accompanying visuals that I find very appropriate (although "The Exorcist" is a bit too recent to fit in with the films the song is about):

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 28: "The X-Files" Theme

      "The X-Files" is a bit of a rarity. it is a genre series that ran for a long time (arguably longer than it should have), but was also firmly set in a reality like our own. There was no traveling through time like "Doctor Who" or space like the various "Star Trek" series, just these two FBI agents trying to solve the mysteries of monsters, ghosts, and aliens in our own world, and on network TV to boot (none of this syndication stuff that shows like "Friday the 13th: the Series" had to work with).

     Easily as iconic as Mulder or Scully is the show's theme song. Just play the first few bars of it (or even just the whistle), and any fan of the show will know it as well as they would other iconic themes like "Star Trek", "Star Wars", or "The Twilight Zone". It's a calmer theme than some of the others on this list, but then "The X-Files" was frequently a pretty slow-moving show. 

     Calm or not, the theme still perfectly sets you up for whatever eerie experience the show was about to serve up to you.

     Here is the theme as it appeared in the show's opening:

     Of course if you want something you can dance to, there's this: 

      Or this:

     Or there is the official Dust Brothers remix from the "Fight The Future" soundtrack:

     Want something a little prettier? How about the theme played on violin and piano:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 27: Thriller

     Okay, so let me start by saying that I totally understand that for a lot of people Michael Jackson is off the menu, and I get that. I am not going to have a long discussion about what he may have done and why he may have done it, so if you want to bail on this post now, I do not blame you; there will be another song tomorrow, and I hope you'll swing back by then.

      Having grown up in the 80's and 90's, Michael Jackson is as much a part of my youth as VHS players and the NES, and I would say that the song "Thriller" (or more specifically, the video) was as influential to the direction my tastes would take as "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"  or Stephen King. They actually showed us the "Thriller" video (and the accompanying Making-Of) in school. I  must have been in the first grade and they absolutely sat us down in that brightly lit, yellow painted classroom and showed us the full length video for "Thriller".

     I think that part of the point of showing it to us in school was to show us that movie monsters were all fake, and showing us a (honestly still quite interesting) documentary approximately twice as long as the actual mini-movie it was about would demystify how monsters like those are created.

     It is my memory that everyone pretty much liked it (everyone whose parents signed permission slips anyway, it may have been the 80's, but there were stills standards), but I know I did, and it totally set me on the road to my love of zombies to this day (you may have noticed a few zombie themed tunes on my list). Without "Thriller" I would likely have never become interested in "Of The Dead" films, or even the (IMO) lesser "Return of the Living Dead" films, would possibly have never read comics like "Zombie World" or "The Walking Dead", and may never have been inspired to write "Mallville: A Journal of the Zombie Apocalypse" a decade ago. As you may be able to tell, this song is important to me.

     What more could you really ask for in a song? It has a fantastic sound and beat, creepy lyrics, and even Vincent freakin' Price (although that "terrorize y'alls neighbourhood" line has always bugged me). Add to that a video directed by John Landis (another figure with some serious controversy on him, actually) stuffed full of fabulously choreographed zombies and a perhaps less fabulous wolf transformation for Michael Jackson, and you have a song that is still a Halloween classic going on 40 years later (unless of course who are someone who has taken MJ off your personal menu).

     Here is that full length video that I watched as a wee child in that classroom oh so many years ago:

     And here is the making of video:

And here is Vincent Price performing (a perhaps slightly rushed version of) the "Thriller" rap for Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show:

     That laugh though... man.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 26: Goodnight Moon

      Yes, believe it or not, I am choosing another proper song today; not a theme song or a novelty song, and that song is "Goodnight Moon" by Shivaree (not to be confused with the book of the same name by Margaret Wise Brown, or the YouTube ASMR channel). While I do actually have the album "I Oughtta Give You A Shot In The Head For Making Me Live In This Dump" that the album comes from, I , like probably a lot of people, first heard it as part of the soundtrack from the "Kill Bill" movies.

     Tarantino films pretty consistently have solid soundtracks, don't they?

     From the moody guitar to the lovely vocals, the song tells us to the story of a person who is either truly being menaced by evil forces or is just really, really afraid of being alone in the dark. Either way the song belongs on your Halloween playlist, regardless of what you are using it for.

     It's kind of a shame the group was a bit of a one hit wonder, because that first album of theirs is good. I should look for some of their other ones; I am particularly interested in their cover album, "Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs" because I really do like covers done in drastically different styles from the original.

    Here is the original album version of the song:     

     And here's a nice live version:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 25: "Doctor Who" Theme

      Okay, so there's nothing particularly "spooky" sci-fi TV heavy hitter "Doctor Who" (although it certainly can be when the writers put their minds to it), but its theme is absolutely iconic and anywhere fro beautiful to forebodingly epic, depending on which version you are listening to.

     I was going to say that this is another song perhaps better suited to the soundtrack for trick or treaters, but I an listening to one of the videos I am linking to below as I write this, and I think you could actually dance to this, or at least some versions of it.

     Like a lot of people, this is a series that I bring up with my from childhood, growing up watching it at 7:30 pm every night on a local PBS station (and they would play a full storyline on Saturday nights, but I generally fell asleep during it).

     If you are interested, my favourite Doctors are Tom Baker (my first Doctor, and the most memorable one of my childhood) and David Tennant (who, kind of like how Johnny Depp just plays some version of his Hunter S. Thompson in everything, basically just still plays his version of the Doctor in most everything he is cast in). 

     And while I am saying divisive things, I'll weigh in on the current Doctor as well. I think Jodie Whittaker is a fantastic actress, I loved her in "Attack the Block" and "Broadchurch", and I think she could be a great Doctor if the writers could just sort themselves out. Matt Smith had a similar problem his first series, but they pretty much sorted it out by his second, meanwhile Whittaker is entering her last year in the role and they still have not figured out how to use her well (all my opinion, obviously). 

     Anyway, enough hot takes. How about some music?

     I was going to find a number of versions of the theme song, but then I found that The 1-CrazyBunny had already combined them into a nearly 40 minute compilation, so let's just put that here:

     In case you don't think the song is dance-to-able in any of its normal forms, here is a version you can perhaps groove to a little better:

     This is not actually on my playlist, but maybe it should be. It's a weird oddity of a song that I have wondered about since I saw the video for "Doctorin' the TARDIS" as a child. I don't know if the song separated from its video really conveys all the weirdness of it though:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 24: Ghost Riders in the Sky

      I do not count myself as a fan of country music in general. Sure, there are the occasional "The Gambler" and "They Highwayman" that I genuinely enjoy, but for the most part it is a a genre I avoid. I would count "Ghost Riders in the Sky" as one of those occasional exceptions though, and I expect that it will end up being the only country song on this list.

     If you are somehow unaware of this song, it tells the story of a man who witnesses a stampeding herd of demonic cattle being pursued by a group of cowboys cursed to chase after them forever. The riders offer the man a warning that if he does not change his ways, he will be joining them as one of the titular ghost riders in the sky. It is a good, truly American ghost story told in a classic song that has been performed many ways by many artists.

     Here is a live version by The Highwaymen (for my money, the best country group that ever existed):

    Here we have the man in black himself:

I believe is the original version from 1948, but I could be wrong:

The song is not limited to pure country though, as it does adapt well to electric guitars, as in this version from "Ghost Rider"

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 23: "Puppet Master" Theme

      While the series may have eventually gone a little bleh, the original "Puppet Master" is still a classic horror film, and easily one of the jewels in the crown of Full Moon, introducing the world to the deadly creations of Andre Toulon in the forms of Blade, Pinhead, Tunneler, Leech Woman, and Jester (I think that is all of the puppet from the first film anyway, other series favourites like Six-Shooter and Torch would not appear until the sequels).

     Produced in an era before everything was CGI, the original films feature all practical effects, some of which maybe do not hold up so well (Leech Woman is a good example of this, so it Pinhead being thrown through the air), and good puppeteering combined with beautiful character designs make the puppets much more important and likable characters than any of the human actors in the film.

     Of course we are here to talk about the theme song, which is haunting, beautiful, and something you definitely could dance to, albeit ballroom dancing. I really do think this is a fantastic piece of music that I expect I would like even if it were not associated with one of my favourite childhood horror films (I actually had a Blockbuster former rental VHS of the original film, and it was in frequent rotation).

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 22: "Gravity Falls" Theme

     this is another song that maybe is not "spooky" exactly on its own, but in context of the show is serves as the theme for, it still works well enough for me.

      If you have never seen "Gravity Falls" before, you are depriving yourself. I am almost tempted to say that it is like a "Rick and Morty" for kids, but only almost, so I am not actually going to say that. I will say that there is one scene in each show that does directly link them though. i will also say that the series is on Disney+, so when you've run out of Marvel and Star Wars stuff on there, go give it a watch and I doubt you will be sorry.

     The series ran on Disney Channel and DisneyXD for (sadly only) two series in the early to mid 2010's and followed the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines as they were sent to spend the summer with their great uncle Stan in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, a town that make some place like Twin Peaks seem downright dull. The show had a great central cast (Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, Linda Cardellini, and show-creator Adam Hirsch), as well as fantastic assortment of voices for re-occurring and guest starts including J.K. Simmons, Nathan Fillion, Justin Roiland, Nick Offerman, Will Forte, Patton Oswalt, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Combine the talent with a well written and well animated show, and the only thing missing would be a good theme, right? Well "Gravity Falls" has that as well.

    Fast and cheerful, the song evokes a sense of joyful eerieness that perfectly fits the accompanying visuals of the opening sequence as well as setting the tone for the whole show.

There is an extended version of the song too, for longer enjoyment

Of course there are some fun remixes.

And even another epic version from L'Orchestra Cinematique

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 21: Creepy Doll

      Yup, it's another piece by Jonathan Coulton, and it is also from one of this Thing-A-Week albums. It doesn't seem that long ago when he really was all over  the internet; I remember being exposed to his music shortly before he gained more mainstream fame for the Portal closing theme, "Still Alive".

     The song very nicely switches back and forth between creepy music box and rock guitar while telling the tale of your experience with the creepy doll that manages to be both unsettling and ridiculous ("The doll disapprovingly asks if you really need that much honey"). 

     I don't know if you could really dance to this one of not, but it's definitely a good trick or treat soundtrack item.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 20: Ghostbusters

      You had to know that this song would show up in here somewhere, right? Not only is "Ghostbusters" an integral part of my youth (I still have my original Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figure, although he is a bit mucky after all these years), but the song was a certified hit, reaching the top spot on the Billboard Top 100, and being nominated for an Oscar.

     I will admit that I do fear they will ruin it somehow in Afterlife, like they did with that truly awful Fall Out Boy version they did for "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call" a few years ago, although to be fair: the only redeeming things about that film were that the "LEGO: Dimensions" story pack for it was quite fun and the LEGO kit based on that version of Ecto-1 is really well designed (it is currently in my Halloween display).

     Here is the classic, catchy, sing-a-longable original song with its very 80's video:

     You have to love all that neon and those celebrity cameos.

    Here is an extended promotional video of the version used for the classic "The Real Ghostbusters" cartoon series:

     I'm going to be honest here: I think the animation holds up a lot better than a lot of animation from that period, especially for a DIC

     Here is the Run DMC version from "Ghostbusters II", which may not be as classic as the original, is still a fun effort,

    Especially when compared to this version. I do not encourage you to listen to/watch this, but it's here for if you want it:

     To make it up to you for linking to the Fall Out Boy version, here is the "Epic Version" from L'Orchestra Cinematique:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 19: Hell

      This is another song you have heard even if you are not familiar with the band Squirrel Nut Zippers. "Hell" has appeared on numerous soundtracks including "Lucifer", "This Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", "Dead Like Me", and was the (possibly ill-advised) opening theme to the reality show, "Family Plots".

     The song is a catchy, upbeat jazz-swing piece with lyrics that make it a perfect addition to your Halloween soundtrack, be it for a party or just the trick or treaters.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 18: Dead Man's Party

      Are you old enough to realize that before Danny Elfman did the theme for "The Simpson" and scored basically every Tim Burton movie in the last 40 years he was in a band called "Oingo Boingo" Well, he was, and today's song is one of theirs.

     The song "Dead Man's Party" originally released on the album of the same name, but is probably not the most famous track on there, being overshadowed by songs like "Weird Science" (another good Halloween song, actually) and "No One Lives Forever". I did not come across this track for my Halloween playlist from this album originally, but from the soundtrack for "The Haunted Mansion" that I mentioned a bit back in the entry for the song "Tombstone".

     Strong vocals combine with guitars and horns to make a great song to dance to, or jut play for the trick or treaters.

     I did not know that this song was also in the old Rodney Dangerfield film "Back To School" until I went looking for the video. If video for "The Crypt Jam" is painfully 90's. this gem is painfully 80's. Thankfully the song stands the test of time better than this video.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 17: The Crypt Jam

      "Tales From the Crypt" has been a staple of horror for over 80 years now from its EC Comics days in the 1950's to the 1972 film to the films and HBO series in the 90's, which is where today's gem originates. 

    Even though the show ran on HBO (remember that this is 90's HBO so this was the era of "Dream On" and "Arli$$", well before shows like "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under" made HBO famous for quality programming), "Tales From The Crypt" had a pretty strong pop culture visibility, likely helped out by the FOX network running censored versions of the episodes late night on Saturdays. This awareness not only resulted in a pair of theatrically released films ("Demon Knight" and "Bordello of Blood"), but in music CD releases.

   Were you aware that there is a TFtC Christmas album? There is, but this song actually comes from the 1992 soundtrack where is was featured more as a bonus track at the end of a disc of music from the show.

     Performed by The Cryptkeeper himself, this song is so 90's it's almost painful, but it is catchy, you can dance to it, and I have loved it ever since the first time I heard it played on morning radio back when it was still culturally relevant.

     I could not find an techno/dusptep/EDM version of this song, so instead here is a metal version of the show's iconic theme:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 16: Re: Your Brains

     Jonathan Coulton is one of those musicians where you have heard his music even if you do not know his name. He originally got the internet's attention back in the mid-aughts when he spent a year creating a "Thing A Week", but what you will likely know him from is songs like "Code Monkey", theme song to the series "Code Monkeys" (which was neither great nor horrible) from the old G4 network, "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone" from the Portal games, and this song, "RE: Your Brains", which apparently was in "Left 4 Dead 2", which I do not remember being there at all, but it has been a long time since I have played that.

     "RE: Your Brains" tells the story of a rather reasonable and pragmatic living corpse who just wants to come to an understanding with his old co-worker regarding the inevitability that brains will be eaten. It's good fun.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 15: They're Coming To Get You, Barbara

      If you are anything like me, the words "They're coming to get you, Barbara" make you instantly think of the film classic "Night of the Living Dead", and you would be mostly right in this case. "They're Coming To Get You, Barbara" is a song by No More Kings (making their second appearance on this list) about that very movie.

     The song is slow and almost pretty until you realize it is about flesh-eating reanimated corpses.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 14: Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor

      Every since I was a child, I have associated this piece by Bach with both "The Phantom of the Opera" and a museum in San Francisco that used it in their commercials (I do not remember what museum it was, just that it featured this piece in it).

     This piece of music is another one that we all know of even if we dislike classical, and I think it can work as one of those bits of music that can serve as a gateway into exploring more classical.

     It is also proof that organ music can be cool even if Victor Geist is not the one playing it.

     You can  make dance mixes of literally any music:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 13 Army of Darkness Groovy Remix

      Alright you primitive screwheads, it's lucky day 13 and that deserves something special.

     This goofy little Army of Darkness Remix is totally not a track I found on a file-sharing service a couple of decades ago, but it has been on my Halloween playlist since about that time, so yeah, I'm sure I procured it through legal means... basically.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 12: Tombstone

      Presumably based on the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean", in 2003 Disney released a film called "The Haunted Mansion". It starred Eddie Murphy, and like pretty much every movie starring Eddie Murphy that has been released this century, it was... not good.

     As not good as the film was, there was one redeeming thing about it, and that was the "The Haunted Mansion Haunted Hits" CD that was released alongside it. Containing songs like "Somebody's Watching Me", "Dead Man's Party", "Man With The Hex", a perfectly competent Barenaked Ladies cover of "Grim, Grinning Ghosts", and today's song: Suzanne Vega's "Tombstone" (not her actual tombstone, to my knowledge she is quite alive as of this writing).

     Maybe not something you can dance to, but it's another good song to throw on the playlist for when trick or treaters are roaming about:

     Here is a faster-paced, more guitar heavy live verson:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 11: This Is Halloween

      Is "The Nightmare Before Christmas" a Halloween movie? Is it a Christmas movie? It seems like an appropriate watch anytime between October and the end of the year, I guess that is why Disneyland re-themes The Haunted Mansion to it for a full quarter of the year.

     The film is full of classic songs (I guess that makes it another musical I do like), but I would say that none is better for a Halloween soundtrack than this one. It's creepy, catchy, and really one of the few songs that have appeared, or will appear, on this list that is really, truly a Halloween song.

As proof of it's iconic status, we of course have covers, like this (for my money anyway) overrated Marilyn Manson version:

Or this (again, just my opinion) MUCH better cover by Panic At The Disco:

Or we can class it up with this cover by Vitamin String Quartet:

And of course I have to throw in a dubstep version:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 10: A Nightmare on My Street

      Back before Will Smith was alternating between award-bait films and science fiction films of varying quality, before he was even The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he released a track with DJ Jazzy Jeff called "A Nightmare on My Street". A love letter to the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film series, the song tells the story of how The Fresh Prince finds himself menaced by Elm Street baddie, Freddy Krueger.

     One of the things that always appealed to me about what is a song that modern-day Will Smith would likely be happy if the world forgot is how it blends Elm Street's haunting music with a hip hop beat. 

     The weakest thing in the song is that their "Freddy" voice sounds nothing like Robert Englund. In a perfect world, this song would have been an official collaboration with the Elm Street series, and the song and video would have both featured Englund in his career-defining role.

     The video for this song is a super low budget, as were all the DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince videos of the time, features a "Freddy" that looks to be some sort of cross between Frankenstein's Monster and The Terminator, and has a disclaimer to make it extra clear that it is not in any way connected to the film series.

     We all know what it is about though.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 9: Necronomicon Ex Boardis

  The Pyronauts are (were? Their webpage does not appear to have been updated since 2016) a fantastic surf rock band in the tradition of Dick Dale, and one that I have been fortunate enough to see a few times live at various events in the Placer County area. 

     I originally took notice of them at a festival when they were playing a different song that may well turn up later in this list, but this one, as the name "Necronimicon Ex Boardis" might hint, carries with it some very heavy Evil Dead/Army of Darkness vibes.

     This track has kept a place on my Halloween playlist since I first bought their album at The Mountain Mandarin Festival.

     I do wish I had their Christmas album.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 8: Night on Bald Mountain

      We're one week into the month now, so I thought I would circle back around to classical music again, and whether you are a classical fan or not, you know Mussorgsky's famous piece.

     If you watch me on YouTube (Void of Intelligence), you will likely have seen me mention that I like the character Chernabog from Disney's "Fantasia", and of course Chernabog is featured in the segment "Night on Bald Mountain". The music is loud, intense, and epic all on its own, but if you couple it with the imagery from its "Fantasia" sequence and you get something potentially terrifying, especially for younger viewers who just want to see Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey.

Just for giggles, here is a chiptune version perfect for a boss fight against an 8-bit Chernabog:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 7: The Phantom of the Opera

      I will be the first to admit that I am not a big fan of musicals, "Little Shop of Horrors" is about the beginning and the end for me, but "The Phantom of the Opera" is a classic of literature, cinema, and musical theater, and it is one of the few musicals I have seen in person (even fewer if you discount high schools productions).

     Most of the music in the show does not really speak to me too much, but "The Phantom of the Opera" is creepy, tense, and has a great beat.

     Gotta love that organ in there as well

Here is a cover montage by the always fantastic Lindsay Stirling:

Here is a fantastic techno version that has been on my Halloween playlist for well over a decade.

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 6: Zombie Me

      Back when I was writing my old Blognovel, "Mallville: A Journal of the Zombie Apocalypse", I listened to a lot of Pandora, and one day music from a group called No More Kings started popping up periodically. Their music was both catchy and incredibly geeky, referencing things like "Knight Rider", "The Karate Kid", and "Short Circuit". Not only did this all hit me right in the childhood, but one song in particular really resonated with me, I am sure largely because I was working on a zombie story at the time, and that song was called "Zombie Me".

    "Zombie Me" is told from the point of view of a zombie, is full of pop culture references, and is just generally a good song. I went right out to my local music store (R.I.P. Dimple Records) and bought the album it came on: "And The Flying Boombox".

     Here is the original song:

And here, from their third (and so far, final) album, "III" is the Zombie Me Apocamix

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 5: Yo Pumpkin Head

     Okay, so out of context, this may not seem like a Halloween song, but in context it is being played during a Halloween parade, and it is a fun, catchy tune from "Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door" (also known as just "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie").

     "Cowboy Bebop" is a series known as much for its music as its action and story, and this song is as good an example as just about anything else from the series. Composed by Yoko Kanno and performed by The Seatbelts, "Yo Pumpkin Head" is a cheery, upbeat, jazzy tune that is just a joy to listen to.

     With a live action "Cowboy Bebop" series coming to Netflix next month, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with the anime if you have not done so before. Even if you do not like anime, this is still a series worth giving a try if you like bounty hunting, action, and great music.

Here is the song as it appears on the CD "Future Blues"

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 4: I Put A Spell On You

 Back in the 90's, I bought one of those Halloween music CDs, but unlike a lot of the ones I have seen in the past decade or so, it actually contained original recordings instead of "All New Recordings by The Hitt Crue", or some-such nonsense. One of the songs on it was the Screamin' Jay Hawkins version of "I Put A Spell On You", and it was love at first sight... errr, sound.

Sure, there are other performers who have done this song, Nina Simone is certainly one worth mentioning, but there is only one version of this song that will likely ever count for me, and it is this one:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 3: The Monster Mash

      How could I do a list of Halloween-appropriate music without covering "The Monster Mash"? This song is just about THE quickest audio shorthand for a film or television show to let you know you are watching a Halloween scene.

    Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers originally released this classic in 1962, and, for better or worse, it has become as much a part of the season as jack-o-lanterns and that sugared wax we call "candy corn"

And here's one for the folks that like it a little more modern, and the video is cute to boot:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 2: Theme to "Wellington Paranormal"

      Thanks to HBO Max, this year I discovered the spin off to "What We Do In The Shadows" (the original film, not the also quite excellent FX series)" "Wellington Paranormal".

     I have talked about this show a little in one of my Weekend Magic videos in the What Got Me Through The Week segment, but briefly put: the series follows two members of the Wellington Police who appeared briefly in the original film. Presented as a Cops-esque documentary series: Officers O'Leary and Minogue, along with their sergeant, Maaka, keep the people of Wellington, New Zealand safe from all manner of spirits, demons, aliens, and the living dead... sort of.

     This is about the theme though, and for me the theme song hits all of the right notes to make it onto a Halloween night playlist. For me it contains a lot of the same elements that make the themes to shows like "The X-Files" and "Gravity Falls" also Halloween must-haves.

Here is the theme from series one:

Here is the series two version:

31 Days of "Spooky" Music Day 1: Danse Macabre

      I haven't written much of anything all year, and since it looks like I will not be able to find something like Funko's 13 Day Spooky Countdown calendar to do videos on, I thought I would blog something every day.

     But what to do? I figured music would be a fun way to enjoy the season, so my plan is to do a post every day this month with something that would go well on a Halloween playlist, and we will start today with Danse Macabre.

    No, I don't mean the old book by Stephen King (which you are probably too young to know about anyway), but the musical piece (apparantly a "tone poem") by Camille Saint-Saens. I have always thought this was a particularly beautiful and haunting piece of music.

Here is a version of it as performed by l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France:

If you want something a little more modern, check out this remix by Turtlejam:

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