Ladies and Gentleman, we are now 3 weeks (and a considerable amount of homework) away from graduation (and more posts and content 😀 )!
In the interim, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!
Halloween, 1909-style
Of course, we need a few tunes. Time constraints (see above) mean that this is more of a stream of consciousness list than a consciously curated one. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments! 🙂
Camille Saints-Saëns – La Dans Macabre, performed by l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. There are so many different versions of this, but I liked both the performance and videography on this one (I wish we had more classical music on TV here!).
Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Keepers – “Monster Mash”. Can you have Halloween without the graveyard smash? The skeletons come back in a few, wait for it…
Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party”. Heard this on the radio yesterday morning and knew it had to be on the blog. (Also, amazing 80s video. Also, I aways forget for some reason that Danny Elfman was the singer!).
The 69 Cats – “Sweet Transvestite” cover. Ok, while not technically a Halloween song, I wanted to sneak this in. The 69 Cats is a collaboration with Jyrki69 of The 69 Eyes, Danny from the Rockats and Headcat (get it?) and Chopper Franklin from The Cramps‘ later years (who have a strong legacy in cover tunes). And for those who somehow missed The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the last 40 (!) years or need to see it again (you know you do!), the original scene (with the amazing Tim Curry) is here.
Edvard Grieg – Hall of the Mountain King, performed by Apocalyptica. There are many awesome versions of HOTMK out there, including this very close runner up by Savatage. The original is badass as well. But, as you may have discovered in our time together, I’m a bit of an Apo fan and this version from their Life Burns DVD is frankly awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf2aIVKp1OY
And last but not least, some super old school Disney from 1929. Pretty incredible when you consider the first “talkie” was in 1927! I’m not sure my cat would appreciate the treatment of his fellow black cat, however…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtcAHhOVXQ
Please have a very happy and safe Halloween!
(This blog entry sponsored by Parentheses)