You may remember that image from years gone by. Today is 31st October, Halloween, which you can read all about here if you’d like to know where it came from and why you are doing stupid things today. This is the night when I turn off all the lights and pretend I’m out in case anyone comes trick or treating. No one ever has in the seventeen years I’ve been living here, but it is always best to take precautions. My chocolate stash is mine, and is not intended for sharing! Although Halloween started this side of the pond it isn’t as big a deal here as it is in the US, where they go completely overboard about it, but I have for several years played some tunes to mark the occasion. You may have seen a few of these in previous years, but you can’t keep a good song down, can you? And there are a couple making their Halloween debut, to ring a few changes.

As has become my habit I’m starting with my all time favourite. In case you hadn’t already guessed it, there is a big clue in the picture above:

A brilliant song from a brilliant songwriter, much missed by many. And I love that lyric video which was released for it four years ago, though the song dates back a lot longer. Werewolves Of London was released in January 1978 both as a single and as a track on Warren Zevon’s third album, Excitable Boy. That was his breakthrough record in the US, reaching #8 and also getting to #9 in Australia. It wasn’t a hit album here, though – he had to wait until 2000 before that happened. The single also fared well in those same two countries: #21 in the US and #8 in Australia, and even made it to #87 here in the UK in April 1987. It was eventually awarded a Silver Disc for 200k UK sales in May 2023 – what we call a ‘sleeper!’

As I did last year I’m following that up with another oldie that has been given an updated lyric video treatment – in this case, in October 2022:

Monster Mash was first released as a single in May 1962 by Bobby “Boris” Pickett (and the Crypt-Kicker Five) and topped the US Singles chart that year in the week before Halloween. It was re-released in 1973, getting to #10 in the US that time round, but peaking at #3 here in the UK and making #1 in Canada. It has been a perennial Halloween favourite ever since it first came out, and even made the US chart again as recently as 2021. Yes, it’s corny, but I have always loved it!

I’ve previously played the Screaming Jay Hawkins version of this next one, but am going for a bit of fun with it this year:

That is for anyone who thinks I would never play anything by Bette Midler – you know who you are! In general, I wouldn’t, but that is just too good to leave out. Hocus Pocus is a movie which came out in 1993: it follows a villainous comedic trio of witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy (Omri Katz) in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night. It is a Disney movie, so I think my Disney+ subscription is going to be put to use today!

Last year I gave you the cover of this one by the Finnish band Steve ‘n Seagulls, but I’m going back to the original today. It isn’t specifically about Halloween, but if the Grim Reaper isn’t scary I don’t know what is!

That isn’t an official video, but it has the merits of being the full length version of the song with some appropriate images, with the small downside of some dodgy spelling in the lyrics. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper was a track on Blue Öyster Cult’s fourth album, Agents Of Fortune, which was released in May 1976 and peaked at #29 in the US Albums chart and at #26 in the UK. The song was released as a single in July of that year, and got to #12 in the US and #16 in the UK. I was a little surprised to see that it only got that far: that year saw the second of two successive long hot summers here and my memory is that the song could be heard everywhere whenever we were out and about. But it is also appropriate for a dull and dreary autumnal day, and is still a great song.

This next one is another old favourite of mine that I have played before, but you can’t deny that witches are a part of Halloween, can you:

The Witch’s Promise was released by Jethro Tull as a non-album single in January 1970, getting to #4 in the UK and #6 in Ireland. It also had some lower placings in other countries, but wasn’t a hit in the US. I’ve always liked it, having been a fan of the band since they first started, and it is always good for me to play it at this time of year.

Before moving to today’s final tune I should perhaps give you some links to songs I have previously played but am omitting today. There are several!

Thriller – Michael Jackson – it’s long and epic, but I think I have overplayed it!

The Wolfman Can’t Come – Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band – a lot of fun!

Come To The Sabbat – Black Widow – from 1970, a real period piece.

Spooky Scary Skeletons – The Hound + The Fox – another fun one.

I’m closing with something a little different, but very appropriate for today. I couldn’t really leave out my favourite German pagan folk band, could I, and this is spectacularly good:

That video for Halloween by Faun was released in October 2021, and has accumulated more than 2.6m views. I have featured them before, singing in their native German, but they have occasionally used English lyrics on their albums and this one follows that path. Their music is great, and the video is amazing: not least for what they have (so far) got away with on YouTube! The band also posted a ‘making of’ video for this which is quite revealing, in more senses than one. This link should work for anyone who would like to know what goes into a video like this – it looks like hard work! The song was a track on their most recent album, Pagan, which was released in April 2022 and reached #3 in Germany. In case you hadn’t realised, I like Faun a lot and I’m closing with this one as the first three verses of the song sum up what I think is the essence of Halloween – the Eve of All Hallows Day, on which we celebrate the departed:

“Spirits haunt these magic hours, Dwelling in the sylvan bowers; In the trees is a ghostly breeze.

Light a candle for the dead, With sprigs of fir do warm their bed; And in songs bless the ancient ones. 

Halloween – in moonlight we gather; Halloween – to join with the unseen; Halloween – calling the spirits who come forth on Halloween”

That seems a very appropriate note on which to leave you. Enjoy your day, however you celebrate it.

Happy Halloween! 🧙‍♀️