Friday, October 30, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
(It's a) Monster's Holiday by Buck Owens
Cold by Legendary Shack Shakers
I Created a Monster by Glenn Barber
I Wanna Be Your Zombie by Slackeye Slim
Your Friends Think I'm the Devil by The Imperial Rooster
Smash That Radio by The Electric Rag Band
Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now by Emmett Miller
Outside a Small Circle of Friends by Phil Ochs
The Ghost and Honest Joe by Pee Wee King
Garden of the Dead by Pine Hill Haints
Cocaine Cowboy by Terry Allen
The Gayest Old Dude That's Out by Uncle Dave Macon
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican October 30, 2015
A few years ago in this column, right around this time of year, I published a list of songs I called “Beyond the ‘Monster Mash,” a list of rock ’n’ roll horror tunes for people who, after 50-some years, are sick to death (insert evil laugh) of the “Monster Mash.”
But this year I’m not going to make another list. Instead, I’m going way back to the days before rock ’n’ roll, the 1920s and ’30s, to the era of hot jazz and the smooth crooner.
I’m not claiming that there were any Roaring ’20s Roky Ericksons or Depression-era Rob Zombies. But every once in a while some singer got the bright idea of recording a novelty song about devils, ghosts, dancing skeletons, and other topics that were spooky and/or morbid. Many of these can be found in a compilation released several Halloweens ago on Legacy Recordings: Halloween Classics: Songs That Scared the Bloomers Off Your Great-Grandma.
There are a couple of famous names on this 2007 collection that everyone should recognize: Cab Calloway (performing one of his many “Minnie the Moocher” sequels, “The Ghost of Smokey Joe”) and Rudy Vallée (who, in his best fake cockney accent, sings “With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm,” a song about Anne Boleyn).
While I can’t say I’m familiar with 1920s singer Fred Hall, I immediately recognized his contribution to this collection. “’Taint No Sin (to Take Off Your Skin)” was part of Tom Waits’ 1993 album The Black Rider. On Waits’ nightmarish version, author William S. Burroughs provided rather atonal vocals, encouraging listeners to “take off your skin and dance around in your bones.” Except for the lyrics, Hall’s version sounds like an archetypal upbeat speakeasy jazz number. I see visions of skeletons dancing the Charleston.
So most of the performers here are lesser-knowns, and the songs they sing, for the most part, are even more obscure.
The album starts off with a chipper little tune called “Hush Hush Hush (Here Comes the Boogie Man)” performed by British bandleader and BBC regular Henry Hall — who is more famous for “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” which he recorded in 1932, the same year as “Boogie Man.” “Hush Hush Hush” begins, “Children, have you ever met the Boogie Man before/No, I’m sure you haven’t, for you’re much too good, I’m sure.” Then vocalist Val Rosing gives the kiddies practical advice on how to ward off the evil one.
Halloween Classics has another song about the same guy, “The Boogie Man” by Todd Rollins & His Orchestra. Here the title character is something of a sexual predator, threatening “bad little girls like you.” Rollins croons, “I’ll torture you and hunt you/I’ve got you where I want you/A victim of my dark and dirty plot/And at the slightest whim/I’ll tear you limb from limb.” What kind of message does that send to the children?
There are a couple of tracks by country artists of the day, and, blow me down, both singers involved sound more like Popeye than Jimmie Rodgers. One is “Minnie the Moocher at the Morgue” (yes, another Minnie song) by Smiley Burnett, who in the ’60s played train engineer Charley Pratt in Petticoat Junction. T
he other is “Ghost in the Graveyard” by The Prairie Ramblers, who later became more famous when they started backing up Patsy Montana.
A couple of my favorites on Bloomers deal with a creepy old man named Mose. Rube Bloom and His Bayou Boys recorded “Mysterious Mose” in 1930. Later that year, a different recording of the song became the basis of a Betty Boop cartoon. New Orleans trumpet man Wingy Manone does another about “Old Man Mose,” whose main offense is that he died and was discovered by a neighbor not fond of dead people.
This tune has been covered by Louis Armstrong as well as Betty Hutton. And there is also an obscene version (I’m not kidding) recorded in 1938 by Eddy Duchin’s band with singer Patricia Norman.
Just like the best metal, psychobilly, and garage songs of modern times that deal with Satan, ghosts, and monsters, the best songs that scared the bloomers off our great-grannies were humorous ways of confronting our fear of death and other unknowns. They allow you to acknowledge your impending death and the boogeymen who haunt your nightmares. You can’t beat ’em, so join ’em. Dance around in your bones.
Here are some Halloween treats and tricks on the web:
* Santa Fe’s favorite busker sings about New Mexico’s favorite ghost: On a recent Saturday at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, J. Michael Combs agreed to sing a song about La Llorona while my faithful camera crew (actually just me and my iPhone) recorded a video of it. Check it out:
▼ Surfing spooks: Surf music and horror themes have gone together at least since the days of the 1966 teen beach flick The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
Portland visual artist J.R. Williams, who has been responsible for a ton of free retro rock ’n’ soul underground compilations, has a new volume of his Halloween Instrumentals series on his blog, featuring bitchen rock instrumentals interspersed with radio ads for cheesy horror flicks.
Mostly there are obscure bands, but you’ll also find tracks by The Ventures, Duane Eddy, and R&B great Bill Doggett.
▼ The 2015 Big Enchilada: My latest podcast is my annual Spooktacular, which includes a couple of tracks from Songs That Scared the Bloomers Off Your Great-Grandma. You can find that HERE. (Or right below)
I'm going to indulge in a little recycling this Throwback Thursday and revive the 2009 Terrell's Tune-Up Halloween column, in which I explored a favorite song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." Checking the original blog version I found a whole lot of missing Youtubes, broken links ... a basic ghost town of a blog post.
So, after a few basic repairs please enjoy the tale of that Devil's herd thundering across the sky.
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 30, 2009
An impressionable 12-year-old rode to the top of an Arizona hill one afternoon with an old Cowboy friend to check a windmill. A big storm was building and they needed to lock the blades down before the wind hit. When finished, they paused to watch the clouds darken and spread across the sky. As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil’s herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn’t watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity.
More than 60 years ago this frightening vision, now found on the Western Music Association Web site, was etched into the consciousness of America. “Ghost Riders in the Sky” is a perfect Halloween song for the West. It’s the only cowboy song in which “yippie-yi-yay” becomes a demonic taunt. The boy who heard the tall tale from the old cowpoke would grow up to be forest ranger/songwriter Stan Jones.
“Ghost Riders” became a huge hit in 1949, a year after Jones wrote it. Pop-folkie Burl Ives was the first to record it that year. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Peggy Lee chased the devil’s herd, too, and before the end of the year, avant jokester Spike Jones merrily mutated the saga of the demon cows and fire-snortin’ horses. But the biggest hit at that time came from pop crooner Vaughn Monroe, also in 1949.
Of course, it didn’t stop there. It’s been covered by everyone from Concrete Blonde to Dean Martin. Frankie Laine, another popster with an ear for cowboy songs (think “High Noon” and “Rawhide”) also covered “Ghost Riders.”
Artists like Bob Wills, The Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, and Marty Robbins brought “Ghost Riders” back West. Dick Dale went surfing with it. Ronnie Dawson made it a rockabilly romp. The Southern-rock group called The Outlaws introduced it to the dazed and confused generation in 1980. Johnny Cash sang it with the Muppets. Tom Jones took it to Vegas, and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy took it to Mars.
The fact that “Ghost Riders” has a cinematic feel to it is no accident. Jones did a lot of soundtrack work for John Ford Westerns, including writing music for The Searchers (in which John Wayne spoke a catch phrase that inspired a Buddy Holly hit, “That’ll Be the Day”) and Rio Grande.
When Jones wrote “Ghost Riders,” he was working for the National Park Service in Death Valley.
According to the Western Music Association Web site, “The Park Service made Stan its representative to Hollywood film crews when they came to Death Valley. After a long, hot day of filming, cast and crew members often sat around and listened to Stan’s songs and stories. They encouraged him to get a publisher in L.A.” Shortly after, “Yippee-yi-yay, yippee-yi-yo,” was being heard across the land.
My two favorite versions of “Ghost Riders” are no longer in print. The one that raised goose bumps on me as a kid was on a 1964 LP called Welcome to the Ponderosa by Lorne Greene — yes, a tacky TV tie-in from Bonanza’s Ben Cartwright. This version has a full-blown orchestra, a chorus, and Greene’s distinct gravely voice. (Greene’s hit “Ringo” was also on this album.)
Then there’s the country-rock version from New Mexico’s own Last Mile Ramblers, from their 1974 album While They Last. The artist currently known as Junior Brown is playing guitar, and the vocals are by Spook James. This was always a highlight of the Ramblers’ shows at The Golden Inn and Bourbon & Blues.
I’m not sure how many cowboys changed their ways because of the warning in the song. But next time you see lightning in the sky, look for those red-eyed cows and gaunt-faced cowboys.
For the last Wacky Wednesday before Halloween, here's a Betty Boop at her spooky best.
Mysterious Mose, released in December 1930 was one of Betty's first appearances and it's a fright-filled doozy. She literally gets scared out of her nightshirt by strange noises in the night. Notice that in this one she still has dog ears. Betty started out as a strange Poddle/woman hybrid.
Betty teamed up with singer Cab Calloway for several cartoon shorts. St. James Infirmary is especially Halloween appropriate. (For more on that song, CLICK HERE)
Sunday, October 25, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist:
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
