If you’re a Halloween fiend, you’ve probably been jamming out to the greatest Halloween hits since Oct. 1. “Monster Mash” and “This Is Halloween” are longtime favorites, but how many times can you listen to the same songs before going crazy? Reach your spookiest potential this Halloween with these additions to your playlist.
“Witchy Woman” by The Eagles
“She held me spellbound in the night
Dancing shadows and firelight
Crazy laughter in another room
And she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon”
Inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald, muse and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Witchy Woman” is meant to sound bewitching and mesmerizing. The line “She drove herself to madness with a silver spoon” alludes to a spoon Zelda used to dissolve sugar in absinthe. This song alternates between riffs and euphoric vocals, giving you the confidence and restless spirit to get on the dance floor like the raven-haired woman.
“My Body’s a Zombie for You” by Dead Man’s Bones
“The smell of my breath
From the blood in your neck
Oh, I hold my soul
From the lands unknown
So I can play the strings of your death”
“My Body’s a Zombie for You” is almost romantic, if you can distinguish between whether Dead Man’s Bones wants to love you or kill you. Nonetheless, it’s a fitting song for slow dancing with your own zombie.
“Clown Asylum” by Ryan Adams
“In the clown asylum
they’ve locked us away
For a million years
Here, here we stay
We stay inside our cages
With our makeup bags
And our frilly shirts
Our hopes and our dreams
Chained to the wall”
More of a spoken word than a song, “Clown Asylum” conveys the image of a clown chained and behind bars in a psychiatric hospital. At the beginning, he relates how he can see out of a window and how he misses the birds. You almost feel bad for him, then he begins screaming and your biggest clown fears are brought to life all over again.
“Ghost Town” by The Specials
“This town is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can’t go on no more
The people getting angry”
“Ghost Town” is eerie and ominous, as it offers more messages than it appears to at the first listen. Sure, clowns and zombies are scary, but there’s nothing scarier than graduating college and being unable to find a job.
“Little Red” by Cathy Davey
“You’re all the time believing
It won’t happen to you
But I guarantee one evening
Or before the night is through
Oh some wolf making out he’s a pup
Blow your house right down and
Gobble you up”
Cathy Davey sings as Little Red Riding Hood as she reminds us that looks are deceiving. Remember that when you’re out on the town on Halloween night. Don’t try to gamble with the big bad wolf.
“Dracula’s Wedding” by OutKast
“Don’t run, I’m not the sun
So much at stake … oh!
Bad choice of words
But I’m not the gun with silver bullets
And I can count
Plus I make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches”
OutKast puts a humorous twist on Halloween with this song. Dracula, sung by Andre 3000, though not scared of anything else, is terrified of an everlasting commitment to his future wife, Kelis. He’s waited his whole life for someone like her and now it’s almost too good to be true. Don’t get cold feet yet Count, she makes great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads
“I can’t seem to face up to the facts
I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax
I can’t sleep ‘cause my bed’s on fire
Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire”
“Psycho Killer” is about exactly what the title implies: a psycho killer. The tune is upbeat and catchy, but it’s appropriate for the killer’s neuroticism. He talks to himself the whole song and leaves you wondering what he could have possibly done, curiosity making it even creepier.
“Scarecrow” by Beck
“Crows are pulling at my clothes
The wind got my fingers froze
Standin’ all day, keepin’ watch
Over all the treasures we’ve lost
Sometimes the jail can’t chain the cell
And the rain’s too plain to tell
All alone by a barren well
The scarecrow’s only scaring himself”
“Scarecrow” is a picturesque blues song and, although it has a Halloween theme, it mostly brings to light the idea of uselessness. Illusions and digging around keep the narrator from progressing in his life. He compares himself to a scarecrow that can’t do his job right and his incompetence is only scaring himself.
“Human” by Goldfrapp
“They went searching
For your body
But there’s nobody
Who smells like you
Who looks like you
You’re not human, too”
“Human,” written by duo Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, is about a woman enamored with a cold-hearted, yet smooth-talking man. She’s so captivated by him, she questions if he’s even human and comes to find out that he isn’t, just like her.
“Costume Party” by Two Door Cinema Club
“It’s what you get when you try to educate a black sheep
You can’t, you won’t, you never will
I’m gonna show you what it takes to see the future
It’s hard but not impossible
And I believe this costume party is over
Before it gets started”
In this piece, Two Door Cinema Club sings of the doubts they’ve gotten from unbelievers. They know they can’t educate ignorant people, so they’re just going to prove them wrong with their actions. Not only does “Costume Party” offer a great message, it’s also the perfect song to play and get hyped for Halloween.
Halloween is only one day a year, but that doesn’t mean the spirit has to end when the calendar flips the page to November. For Halloween music you can listen to all year, including the ones mentioned above, check out the playlist below. Don’t worry, “Monster Mash” and “This is Halloween” are there, too.
Feature image courtesy Pixabay user Alexas_Fotos