Halloween Mixtape 2007

For the past few years, I have feverishly endeavored to assemble a mixtape-worthy collection of Halloween tracks. It has proven to be no easy task. For although there do exist a great many aural homages to All Hallows Eve, my inclusion criteria have been rather strict.

You see, like Neapolitan ice-cream, the usual Halloween mixtape fare comes in one of three flavors:
1. Songs from scary movies i.e. “Theme from Jaws” (strawberry).
2. Novelty Halloween Songs i.e. “Purple People-Eater” (chocolate).
3. Songs with some vague topical reference to something remotely related to Halloween i.e. Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” (vanilla).

Call me crazy, but I just feel that a good Halloween mixtape ought to consist of songs that actually embody the spirit of the occasion. And for me, that spirit is one of pleasant mischief–so no Nick Cave songs here.

Here’s this year’s list:

1. Intro. (The opening monologue of the “Halloweenies” episode of “The Adventures of Pete and Pete”).
2. Waiting For October - Polaris.
3. “Sugar Baby” (Sound-clip from Army of Darkness).
4. We Only Come Out at Night - The Smashing Pumpkins.
5. Halloween - Siouxsie And The Banshees.
6. I Was a Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps.
7. Pet Cemetery - The Ramones.
8. Devil House - Shonen Knife.
9. Dead Man’s Party - Oingo Boingo (It just wouldn’t be right not to include this one).
10. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival.
11. This Is Halloween (From the Nightmare Before Christmas).
12. Remains of the Day (From Corpse Bride).
13. Boil, Boil, Toil, and Trouble (As sung by the pupils of Hogwarts).
14. Godzilla Montage (Blue Oyster Cult’s homage to the wily lizard as bookended by sound-clips from Godzilla 2000).
15. The Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Cryptkickers (The quintessential Halloween Song. May dear Mr. Picket [whom I saw perform this one live @ the 2005 NYC RFTC show] rest in peace).
16. The Wobblin’ Goblin - Rosemary Clooney (The First of two Clooney tunes that I literally spent months on ebay for).
17. Punky Pumpkin - Rosemary Clooney.
18. I Put a Spell on You - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
19. Song of the Volga Boatman - The Glenn Miller Orchestra.
20. Putting on the Ritz (From Young Frankenstein).
21. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor-Bach.
22. “The Great Pumpkin” (Linus and Chuck’s ending dialog from “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”).

Happy Halloween,

-mixtape

~ by mixtape on October 17, 2007.