Halloween fell on Throwback Thursday this year, so here are several spooky tunes, some of which go back more than 100 years.
Confession; I first heard this first one in the 1990s on a Tom Waits album, with vocals by William Burroughs, "`Tain't No Sin to Take Off Your Skin and Dance Around in Your Bones" goes back at least to 1930. Here's a version by a sultry-voiced singer named Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys. (No, this ain't bluegrass music. But, according to the All-Music Guide the band included Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey
Here's Louis Armstrong in the early '50s
According to my late grandmother, Rudy Vallee was something of a teen idol in his day. This song would make him more like the Screamin' Jay Hawkins of the Roaring '20s.
Finally, this song by Arthur Collins must have been the hot of every Halloween party in 1912. Beware the Ragtime Goblin Man!
For more Halloween songs check out my latest Big Enchilada podcast
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
It's Halloween by The Shaggs
Monsters Holiday by Buck Owens
Swamp Gas by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
The Witch by The Sonics
Zombie Dance by The Cramps
Vampire Sugar by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Murder in the Graveyard by Screaming Lord Sutch
Devil Dance by The A-Bones
Monster Blues by Dex Romweber
Frankenstein Meets The Beatles by Dickie Goodman
Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde
Stand for The Fire Demon by Roky Erikson
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner
You've Become a Witch by The Electric Mess
Halloween by Misfits
(I Lost My Baby to a) Satan Cult by Stephen W. Terrell
It Ain't No Sin to Take Off Your Skin and Dance Around in Your Bones by The Pete Allen Jazz Band
2 Big Pumpkins by Elvira
Evil Hoodoo by The Seeds
Halloween Spooks by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
She's My Witch by Fire Bad!
Don't Meet Mr. Frankenstein by Carlos Casal Jr.
Werewolf by Southern Culture on the Skids
The Witch by Stud Cole
Graveyard by Dead Moon
Hearse With a Curse by Mr. Gasser & The Weirdos
With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm by Rudee Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees
Edgar Allen by Lou Reed
Bo Meets the Monster by Bo Diddley
Hillbilly Zombies by Deadbolt
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Vampiro by Los Peyotes
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Lorne Greene
Corpse Grinder by The Meteors
Spooks by Louis Armstrong
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican October 25, 2019
Right up there with Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price, Tyler Childers is at the top of my list of favorite country music discoveries in recent years. I became an unapologetic zealot about three-quarters through my first listen of his landmark 2017 albumPurgatory. And the good news is that his new album,Country Squire (Hickman Holler) is even better.
Unfortunately, lots of folks who might like him probably haven’t heard of Tyler Childers. Here’s what you need to know:
He’s just a youngster, in his late 20s. He comes from Kentucky, which is also the case with Sturgill (who co-produced both this album as well as Purgatory) and Chris Stapleton — not to mention Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, and many others.
And he plays country music. Basic, fiddle-and-steel country music, singing honest tales of life with a little sob in his voice and (I imagine) a little bourbon on his breath. The man can sing. He can pick that guitar. And he can write. Many of the themes in Childers’ lyrics traverse along well-trodden country themes — love of home and family; love and hate of life on the road as a touring troubadour; a working man’s sympathy for those toiling on the farms and in the mines; love for, and sometimes regret over, the sweet release of the metaphorical Saturday night; and sometimes, fear of sin’s cruel wages. Yet when Childers sings, it never sounds corny.
The title song, which kicks off the album, is about a hard-working guy who’s not only a musician, but also a dedicated family man trapping varmints to make a winter coat for the woman he loves.
Well tomorrow, we hit the country music highway/On our way to Circleville/We’re off to do some weekend warring/While we sing and drink our fill/And when I ain’t out playing on my six-string/With the nickels I acquire/I’m trying to fix her up a castle/It’s called the Country Squire.
That “castle” is an old “53-year-old camper” that he’s planning to refurbish for the missus. So much is packed into this song — the hard work, the hell-raising, the love, and the hope.
“Country Squire” is followed by “Bus Route,” a song of vivid childhood memories, in which we meet “the prettiest little girl,” who’s the object of Childers’ childhood crush.
Tried to kiss her once in the aisle of the bus/And she walked right over me/Face-down in the gum on the floor/I was hopin’ that she’d change her mind …
(Spoiler alert: Years later she does.)
And we also meet Ray Dixon, the grouchy old bus driver who refused to take any lip from the unruly country kids he’s responsible for. ("All he needed was a glare in the mirror/And a paddle that he carved from pine …")
Moving away from straight country is “All Your’n,” which veers into Stax-era soul sounds — a nice reminder of the natural intersections between white and black Southern music. It sounds almost like some long-lost Dan Penn song.
One of my very favorites is the final track, “Matthew,” a fiddle-driven ode to Childers’ brother-in-law, an Iraq war veteran who now works the night shift, guarding “rusty missiles” at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky. It’s also about Matthew’s dad, who raised his young ’uns right “on a little bit of scripture and an acreage of paradise.” The old man’s also a musician, and Childers compares his guitar picking to that of the late bluegrass great (and one-time member of The Byrds), Clarence White.
Not much really happens here. Despite the allusions to missiles and war (and a terrible logging accident that cost Matthew’s father a leg years ago), nobody gets killed or hurt during the course of the song. We hear of the family fishing, swapping tales, and telling lies. It’s just a sweet portrait of people Childers obviously loves.
Mister, this is country music!
Also noted:
* Sound & Fury (Elektra) by Sturgill Simpson. I can’t decide whether I hate this album or kind of like it. But I can honestly say, mister, this ain’t country music.
In one of the later episodes of Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary series, someone — I forget who — makes the point that since early in the history of the genre there’s been a tension among artists who try to stretch the boundaries of country. Be it Jimmie Rodgers recording with Louis Armstrong, Bob Wills incorporating swing jazz, Chet Atkins and Billy Sherrill creating a smooth “countrypolitan” sound, or John Denver and Olivia Newton-John crashing the country charts in the 1970s — the tension has always been there.
Now Simpson, an adventurous artist whom I highly respect, would be the first to say that this new album (actually a soundtrack to an anime film) is not hillbilly music. It’s a loud sort of rock with screaming guitars and obnoxious synthesizers that sounds closer to prog rock.
I’m certainly not opposed to country artists testing the boundaries and trying weird stuff. Heck, I remember seeing a Crystal Gayle concert a few decades ago where her keyboardist played a crazy synthesizer on the classic hillbilly hit “Rocky Top,” and it sounded cool. And yes, there are a few catchy tunes here that perhaps I could learn to appreciate.
And I believe there are some good songs buried deep in some of the tunes. I just hope Simpson gets back to the country.
Yes it's a week before Halloween, so let us now praise famous vamps ... namely Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
Back in the early '80s she starred in the Elvira's Movie Macabre, a Los Angeles-based syndicated horror movie shows that featured Peterson in her most famous role as the sexy vampire girl in the low-cut black dress. She offered commentary and bad puns during breaks. And by the end of the decade she seemed to be everywhere.
Elvira’s reign as ‘Queen of Halloween’ has spanned more than three decades and includes an IMAX movie, music CDs, books and more than a thousand licensed products. She co-wrote and starred in the feature films Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Elvira’s Haunted Hills.
And she also sings. So here's a musical tribute to the Queen of Haalloween.
Most of these are from the early-to-mid 80s, so pardon the cheese:
Once again it's Halloween and once again The Big Enchilada takes you on a journey into the heart of supernatural terror where monsters lurk and creatures slither. You'll hear songs full of ghosts, zombies, vampires and all sorts of creepy stuff. Hang on!
And remember, The Big Enchilada is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and gimme a good rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
Sunday, October 20, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Monster by Nobunny
Begone by Daddy Long Legs
The Experimenter by Thee Oh Sees
Hungry Baby by Kim Gordon
Persona by Nots
A Different Kind of Ugly by Sons of Hercules
What About You by The Jackets
Never Did No Wanderin' by The Folksmen
RIP Nick Tosches
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Volare by Dean Martin
Garbageman by The Cramps
Breaking You Down by Left Lane Cruiser
Drop Out Boogie by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Gimme Danger by Iggy Pop
Poison Ivy by Imperial Wax
Trippin' Like I Do by Mystic Braves
Girl by REQ'D
Show Your Love by The Toy Trucks
Forgiveness Through Pain by The Yawpers
Achin' to Be by The Replacements
Harar 1883 by The Mekons
Sucka Punch (Get Back) by Dinola
Cain by Churchwood
Everybody Loves a Clown by Gary Lewis & The Playboys
As Old As Espanola by Boris McCutcheon
Whiskey and a Woodstove by Hoth Brothers
Blind Kinky Friedman by Kinky Friedman
Crawl by Eilen Jewell
My Love by Dion
That's Life by Frank Sinatra CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Some know him as Chuck McGill, brother of Slippin' Jimmy on Better Call Saul. Some know him as Lenny, Squiggy's pal on Lavern & Shirley,
But when I think of Michael McKean, who turns 71 today, I think of David St. Hubbins, guitarist, singer and co-frontman of fictional metal monsters Spinal Tap.
So here's a musical salute in honor of McKean's/St. Hubbins' birthday. Turn it to 11!
Here's a live performance of "Stonehenge,"
Everyone likes a big bottom!
McKean, along with Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, also was a member of another band, The Folksmen, who we met in the under-rated Guest movie A Mighty Wind.
