It was never a plan, but I seem to have got into the habit of playing selections of songs to mark Halloween, which is perhaps a little surprising as this isn’t something I celebrate, and though the commercialisation has taken off here it is still nowhere near as big as deal as it is in the US. But there are some good songs for it, so I’m happy to use it as an excuse! And who doesn’t like songs about ghosts, ghouls, and scary things?

Halloween is 31 October – i.e. this coming Friday – but I thought I’d get in earlier for it this year. The irony of the day’s popularity in the US isn’t lost on me: the origins of Halloween can be traced back to this side of the Atlantic, in a pagan festival mostly known (in Ireland and Scotland) as Samhain, though there are different names for similar festivals in other Celtic regions. The name has been in existence since the mid 18th century, and is given to the day before All Hallows Day, on which remembrance of the dead takes place. Present day Halloween costumes are a hand down from the days of mummers and their attire. Witches’ clothes are an obvious garb for the day, among others, while some others that you see are just plain weird! But none of this explains for me why the US goes so totally over the top for it!

I have played several songs for Halloween over the years, and all of today’s are repeats – if you have a good selection, why not go with them again? Only two of these were in last year’s set, so I’m not just copying that post! I am also changing the order around a little, and am starting with the longest one of the lot:

That was, of course, the full cinematic version – I don’t like short-changing you with the abbreviated cut! It now has more than a billion YouTube views, and the record didn’t do too badly either. Thriller was the title track of Michael Jackson’s sixth album, which was released in November 1982, made #1 just about everywhere, and has gone on to become the biggest selling album of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 70 million. The song was the seventh and final single taken from the album, in November 1983 in the UK and January 1984 in the US, and made #1 in many countries. It *only* got to #4 in the US and #10 in the UK, but has still sold in huge quantities in both: 10 million in the US, and nearly 2 million in the UK, as part of a further 9 million global sales. I think you can consider that a success!

I have often started with this next one, and would never leave it out:

In case you didn’t know it, that was Werewolves Of London by the late, great Warren Zevon. It was a track on Warren’s third album, Excitable Boy, which was released in January 1978 and gave him his breakthrough, reaching #8 in the US and #9 in Australia. The song was released as a single and got a fair bit of airplay here: it peaked at #21 in the US, #8 in Australia, and squeaked into the UK chart at #87. The video was the third updating for the song, released in 2022 having previously appeared in both 2020 and 2021. This most recent update has some lovely touches: I especially liked him playing the ‘Weredle’ game, and the tribute to our late Queen was rather touching.

Something a little left field for my next one:

Come To The Sabbat, by Black Widow. With its subject of witches, spells and the like it is ideal for the season, although it isn’t specifically about Halloween. And it is very much of its time – late 60s/early 70s, when prog rock was taking shape and there was a renewed interest in the occult. I had this on one of those sampler albums that some of the record companies issued back then: Fill Your Head With Rock, from CBS Records. It always intrigued me, and there is something about the insistent rhythm and chanted chorus that attracts me to it. Black Widow were an English rock band, formed in 1969, who used a lot of occult imagery in their songs. Come To The Sabbat is a track from their debut album, Sacrifice, which came out in March 1970 and made #32 in the UK. The title track closes the album, and at over 11 minutes long it is epic!

Perhaps I should go for something a little lighter after that? How about this:

Spooky Scary Skeletons is a song by Andrew Gold, originally on his album Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music, which came out in 1996, and he released the song as a single, reaching #93 in the US. The Hound + The Fox are a husband and wife duo, Reilly and Mackenzie Zamber, and I absolutely love their version of this. I think they had a lot of fun making this video, too: I follow them on Facebook and their trailer posts for it at the time (October 2022) and some behind the scenes videos, bore that out. The track was on their album Haunted Folk, which came out in September 2022, and is a themed set for this time of year. Their beautiful harmonies deserve a wider audience, in my view, which is why I have played several more of their songs, both for Tuesday Tunes and Song Lyric Sunday.

I’m closing today with the song that has rounded off my Halloween posts for the past couple of years, in the spirit of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ The song and video were first released in October 2021, and the video now has more than 3m views on YouTube. As they are one of my favourite bands it feels right to give them another airing:

Faun describe their style as ‘pagan folk music,’ which seems apt for this time of year. At other times I have featured them singing in their native German, but they have occasionally used English lyrics on their albums and this is one such. Their music is great, and the video is amazing: not least for what they have (so far) got away with on YouTube! The band have also shared a ‘making of’ video for this song, which is quite revealing – in more senses than one. This link should take you to it: it’s in German but has subtitles, and shows what goes into a video like this – it looks like hard work! Halloween was included on their album Pagan, which was released in April 2022 and reached #3 in Germany – quite an achievement for a pagan folk band! I am closing with this one as the first three verses of the song sum up what I think is the essence of Halloween – the Eve of All Hallows Day, on which we celebrate the departed, as I have said:

Spirits haunt these magic hours, Dwelling in the sylvan bowers; In the trees is a ghostly breeze.

Light a candle for the dead, With sprigs of fir do warm their bed; And in songs bless the ancient ones.

Halloween – in moonlight we gather; Halloween – to join with the unseen; Halloween – calling the spirits who come forth on Halloween

That’s it for today. I hope you have enjoyed these, and if you celebrate Halloween in whatever way have a good one. I’ll be doing my usual trick (no treat) of trying to avoid anyone banging on my door demanding chocolate with menaces! Take care 🎃